Never Easy
by JK rulez
Summary: A month after leaving Slade, Danny just wants to forget the whole ordeal and move on. But he can’t let it go, whether he’s awake or asleep. And it doesn’t help when Slade returns, with perhaps his most sinister plan yet. DS The trilogy is done!
1. Past, Present, and Future

Summary: A month after leaving Slade, Danny just wants to forget the whole ordeal and move on. But he can't let it go, whether he's awake or asleep. And it doesn't help when Slade returns, with perhaps his most sinister plan yet. DS

_Hi, people! JK rulez back with the third and final installment to "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy! I never expected this to go for three stories. I started with one idea, but I thought it would make it too much like Teen Titans "Apprentice", and then too much like another fic I read. Then I just chose to make it long-running, to Danny being Slade's apprentice, and then afterward. It just didn't feel like I should stop at two._

_Wait's over! Here we go with "Never Easy"! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter One: Past, Present, and Future**

_Looking almost fearful, an average built teenage ghost with white hair, green eyes, and a jumpsuit with the letter S on it, flew through the interior of a large building at a fast and furious pace, watching his prey below him._

_A teen with long red hair and a black shirt, another girl who wore all black and her hair in a bun, and a boy with black skin, a yellow shirt, a beret, and glasses. All of them had rips in their clothes, bruises and blood on their skin, and were out of breath._

_Despite the fact that he seemed almost unwilling to attack, he fired a blast of green energy at them. A little of it hit all three of them and sent them crashing to the corner of a wall._

"_No!" the girl in black cried, "Stop!"_

_The boy being chased then shouted to the ghost, "Don't do this! We're your friends!"_

_The girl with red hair called out, "Stop this! Please!"_

_He appeared to be listening to their words but responded, "I can't stop. I must do this."_

_From above him in one of the rafters, a tall figure encased in patches of body armor, with his faced concealed behind a black and orange mask, spoke coldly to him._

"_Indeed, you must. Finish them off now."_

_Even as he powered up another blast, he screamed, "NO!"_

_The three trapped against the wall began to huddle close together, in fear of what their fate was._

_With the blast in his hands at full power and himself staring at them with fear in his eyes, he fired a blast out of both hands._

_**BAM!**_

_With tremendous power, the blast hit all three of them, large enough to hit every part of them at once._

_Overtaken by the blast as the smoke cleared, the three of them fell to the ground, all with their eyes shut and their bodies falling limp. Looking frantic, the ghost flew down to all of them._

_Tears were forming in his own eyes as he checked their Adams' apples for pulses. Nothing, nothing, and nothing._

_Hardly believing what he had done, he simply sat there, hanging his head and staring at the ground._

_The figure up in the rafters jumped down, landing harmlessly and gracefully on the ground. He walked towards the ghost, saying in pleasure, "Excellent work, Danny. You have thoroughly proven yourself worthy of my trust. I'm very proud."_

_Danny Phantom stumbled back, saying sharply, "No! What have you done to me?"_

"_I haven't done anything to you, or to them. You destroyed them yourself. That's who you are now, Danny. That's who you'll always be. That's who you were going to be, no matter how you tried to prevent it."_

_At this time, Danny was at a loss for words._

_Finally, after moments of his throat seeming constricted, Danny roared at the top of his lungs._

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"

* * *

_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"

Danny Fenton's scream continued as he suddenly sat up in bed.

_(He's a Phantom)_

_(Danny Phantom, Phantom, Phantom)_

**_Young Danny Phantom, he was just fourteen  
When his parents built a very strange machine  
It was designed to view a world unseen_**

_(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)_

_**When it didn't quite work, his folks, they just quit  
But then Danny took a look inside of it  
There was a great big flash, everything just changed  
His molecules got all rearranged**_

_(Phantom, Phantom)_

_**When he first woke up, he realized  
He had snow-white hair and glowing green eyes  
He could walk through walls, disappear and fly  
He was much more unique than the other guys  
And it was then that he knew what he had to do  
He had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through  
He's here to fight for me and you**_

_(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)  
(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)_

_**Gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's** (whisper) Danny Phantom_

Lights from houses surrounding his own came on, the residents obviously surprised by the noise.

When Danny finally stopped, he looked around frantically. He sighed when he saw that he was in his room. Alone. With no potential danger around.

Cold sweat drenched Danny's face as he looked at his clock. It read 2:47 AM.

He sighed as he whispered to himself, "Not again."

Before he could think anymore, his door burst open and Jack, Maddie, and Jazz ran inside, Jack and Maddie with their weapons drawn.

"Where is it!" Jack shouted, "Where's the ghost!"

Maddie cried, "Danny, is there one in here?"

Danny put his hands up and answered, "No! No, just relax. There are no ghosts. I just had a nightmare."

"Again?" Jazz retorted as she raised an eyebrow, "You've been having a lot lately."

"I know, I know. I've just had a lot to do lately."

Maddie looked curiously at him, "What could you have had to do? You've been out of school over a month, and you've just been hanging out with Sam and Tucker since summer began."

"Uh, just don't sweat it, Mom. It's just…teen stuff."

"Well, alright, Danny. But if this keeps up, we're taking you to see a therapist."

"Noted."

"Alright, let's all go back to bed." She and Jack turned around and passed through Danny's door.

Jazz, however, stayed.

She walked towards Danny's bed and said to him, "Was it him again?"

Danny sighed, "Yeah. Slade. Eleventh time since July began, fourteenth time since I left him."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The ghost boy sighed again, "I guess."

Jazz sat down next to him as Danny sat up, continuing, "I can't help it. Every time I dream about him, involves me just in his old lair, and destroying you, Sam, and Tucker."

"I see. And how do you feel when you're doing this?"

"I feel…like I don't want to, but at the same time, I feel like I must and I have no other choice. And Slade claims that I do it by myself, that's who I am, and that's all I will be."

"You haven't forgotten last month, have you?"

"It'll never leave me, Jazz. Not ever. And I don't think my general fear of him will leave me either. During that fight with him, I thought I didn't fear him anymore. That's what I thought, but…I was wrong."

Jazz put one arm around her brother, "I think you need to relax, Danny. It's not healthy to be troubled by so many nightmares."

"What do you expect me to do? Slade's still out there; I know it. And who knows what he may still have in store for me? Or all of you guys? He might be willing to try anything just to get me!"

"KEEP IT DOWN! IT'S ALMOST THREE IN THE MORNING!" Jack's voice thundered from downstairs.

Jazz replied to Danny in a whisper, "Danny, just calm down a little. Come here." She got up and walked over to Danny's dresser. There, she picked up a picture as Danny walked towards her.

She held the picture out for him, "Look at this."

Danny took the picture and looked at it. It showed him, along with his two best friends, Jazz, and his parents, all smiling happy and in front of Fenton Works.

Danny found himself smiling as he looked at the picture.

Jazz smiled back as she said, "That's why you don't need to fear anything, Danny. Because you have people who love you and who care about you. People that will never let anything bad happen to you, and who will always be there for you. You know that."

Danny nodded, still smiling at his sister, "Yeah."

"Good," Jazz said as he leaned over and kissed Danny's cheek. Danny grimaced but said nothing.

With a smile at the fact that she had calmed her brother down, Jazz turned around and walked out, closing Danny's door behind her, leaving her brother with a look of peace and harmony etched across his face.

* * *

"The time is coming," a cold voice said in an office inside a glowing green building in a deep realm of the Ghost Zone. 

He looked at a large arch in front of him with a series of controls next to it with an open case, a cylinder-shaped device on a desk, and then a screen on a computer.

The man, whose face was hidden behind a mask, and with armor all over himself, said, "Come August 1st, one week from today, my moment of triumph will finally arrive. The correct time will finally be here."

Behind him, a calendar with the month of August hung on the wall, with one with the month of July next to it. For the first of August, a large red circle was around the box for the day, and inside it, was a small black circle.

"It's taken me weeks, but I've finally discovered my last ingredient. The key to the execution of my plan. It will work when powered, thanks to my…former apprentice for his retrieval of the experimental power cell.

"Skulker's dimension twister, Axion's power cell, all I need is to take one more trip, and victory will be at hand.

"And Danny Phantom…will be history."

_Oh, boy! Looks like Slade has something nasty planned for our favorite ghost boy! And it looks like it all goes down on August 1st! But what could it be? And why does it have to be that day? For now, just wait until Chapter 2!_

_Just so you know, this fic will NOT end on August 1st just to match the story._


	2. The Old Danny

_Salutations, folks! I've had a little more extra time than usual lately, because I have a short week of school, I suppose. Anyway, I'm currently having a little trouble how I'm gonna do this. I know what I'm gonna do to end it, but up to that, I'm not sure. We'll see how it goes._

_Let's hit Chapter 2! I own nothing._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Two: The Old Danny**

It was safe to say that Jazz's late-night talk with Danny had eased his thoughts and calmed him down a bit. Unfortunately, it was only temporary, as he was awoken by nightmares two nights later. At least he didn't wake up screaming this time.

"Looks like you haven't been getting much sleep lately," Sam said to him as they walked through the park the morning after.

Danny answered, "Not too hard to tell, is it?"

Tucker then asked him, "More nightmares, dude?"

Danny nodded and sighed, "Yeah. Can't help it. Although my term as Slade's apprentice only lasted a week…it'll seem like a lifetime to me. To both of you, and to Jazz as well. I've just wanted to forget the whole thing and move on. But…I just can't let it go. Slade's still out there somewhere."

They stopped walking for a second and Sam put her hands on Danny's shoulders, "We all know that, Danny, but as long as you have us with you, you'll be fine."

Tucker finished for her, "No matter what."

Danny smiled, but then gasped as he felt his ghost sense appear from his mouth.

He was surprised as he heard a loud crash coming from one of the small buildings across the street. The three of them looked over to see the commotion.

The building in question turned out to be a make-up shop. Among the women inside were lipstick, hairspray, make-up, etc. It was a building Sam always liked to put a far distance between it and her.

But what caught Danny's eye were two familiar figures inside: one with the shape of a sharp shadow and tall, and the other was a bright green hornet.

Danny scowled, "Spectra and Bertrand."

Without hesitation, a pair of rings went through him, and he transformed into his alter-ego, Danny Phantom.

He left Sam and Tucker outside as he flew across the street and phased through the wall and inside the shop.

Spectra turned when she heard him enter and smiled sinisterly, "Ah, hello, Danny. It's been a long time."

Danny scowled as the people inside ran for the exit, "Not long enough. Let me guess what you're doing here. You're trying to steal all this make-up and use it yourself just to make yourself beautiful?"

Spectra clapped for him, "Very good, Danny. You're smarter than let on. But that won't be enough for you to stop me!"

Taking this as a sign for a battle to start, Danny fired a ghost ray at them. It was slightly off-target as they both flew out of the way.

Bertrand spoke for the first time, "You've ever been stung by a regular hornet, kid? Let's see how much this hornet stings you!"

He then flew straight at Danny, with his stinger pointed straight at him. Thinking fast, Danny reacted and fired waves of ectoplasm along the ground. The stretched high and Bertrand was forced to fly higher to avoid being hit.

Smiling as this was what he was hoping for, Danny charged straight at Bertrand just as he was starting to dodge it. He wound his fist and landed a powerful punch at the shape-shifter's face.

_**BAM!**_

Bertrand flipped through the air and landed on the ground hard.

From behind the ghost boy, Spectra flew out and tried to surprise him, but this time, he was ready as he dropped down and ducked the attack. He then fired a ghost ray from below, but it missed by inches.

Bertrand had now gotten back up, now as a wolf. He charged straight at Danny…

* * *

With rockets that he had recently built in his shoes, Slade flew quietly through the realms of the Ghost Zone, hoping to find the door he was looking for.

Even though Slade had a very impressive level of intelligence, even he hadn't been in the Ghost Zone long enough to figure out who was behind which door. There were a few times where he had tried random doors and had found rooms which definitely did not lead to his destination.

As he flew, he said to himself, "I just hope my pawns can keep him busy."

* * *

"Ooof!" Danny grunted as he got thrown against the wall by Spectra. 

He got up quickly, still ready to fight. He had taken a couple of hits as well as they had, but the fact that he managed to beat Slade all by himself told him he should be able to handle the two of them. But he couldn't underestimate them. They were two of Danny's tougher opponents.

At a fierce pace, Danny flew straight at them. He then fired a ghost ray with both hands at the two of them. They dodged, but Danny quickly flew at Spectra and grabbed her by the tail. He then swung her around, his arms moving faster as he rotated her.

Finally he let go. His aim had hit home as she struck Bertrand and they both hit the wall and slid down.

Both of them were dazed, but still ready to fight.

Bertrand then became a ninja, this time with a sharp sword in his hand.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on. Don't you have anything new?"

Bertrand ignored him as he flew at Danny, swinging his sword. Danny dodged the attack, and then another. And another. Finally he kicked Bertrand in his hand. He screamed out in pain and dropped the sword.

Danny then smirked, "My turn."

He then fired a ghost ray at Bertrand from close up. It struck and Bertrand smashed into the wall hard, morphing back into his human shape.

Smiling in pleasure, Danny flew over to Bertrand, saying, "Sorry dude, but the stuff in this store is only for girls." He then pulled out the Fenton Thermos and opened it up, "I'm gonna have to kick you out of here and send you in _here_."

Within seconds, Bertrand was sucked inside once again, leaving only Spectra to remain behind Danny.

From outside, Sam watched with a smile, "That's the old Danny if I've ever seen him."

Spectra smirked at Danny, "Always want to save the best for last, don't you, Danny?"

"Cut the small-talk, Spectra. I'm still mad at what you tried to do to Jazz back during Spirit Week!"

"Aw, do you _love_ your big sister, Danny?"

Danny growled as he flew at Spectra. She tried to slash him, but Danny dodged it. He then tried to land a kick to her shoulder, but she countered with a kick to Danny's stomach. Both were hit and knocked backward.

"Hey, ugly woman!"

The two of them looked down and saw that Tucker was inside, with Sam just outside the door.

Spectra glared at him with a livid look in her eyes, "You're gonna pay for calling me that, kid!"

Forgetting Danny, she flew straight at Tucker."

Danny grinned, and then opened the thermos and flew at Spectra from behind while she flew towards Tucker. She never saw it coming as the white light from the thermos encase her body as she screamed loudly.

Danny smiled and closed the thermos, "Nice distraction, Tuck."

Tucker high-fived him, "Don't sweat it, man."

Sam came inside with a smile on her face, "Nice job, guys." But her smile changed to a look of confusion as she went on, "But doesn't it seem fishy that she would just show up here and attack?"

Danny shrugged as he changed back into Danny Fenton, "She was trying to make herself beautiful again, Sam. Nothing new."

"Well, yeah, but she usually wants her beauty at the expense and pain of others. Now here she just attacks a store?"

Tucker replied, "Well, it makes sense, but what exactly are you implementing?"

Sam shrugged, "Nothing, really. But it just seems a little off."

* * *

About an hour later, two swirling sets of green energy flew from the direction of the Fenton Portal inside the Ghost Zone. 

After a few minutes, they finally took the shape of Spectra and Bertrand.

Spectra then pushed a finger to her earlobe and spoke towards an earpiece, "We're back."

Bertrand then said to one of his own, "We kept him busy."

"Excellent," Slade responded as he now stood in front of a door.

He then pulled on the handle, and it opened up to reveal a bunch of electrical equipment, with a green-skinned ghost with sunglasses, a large silver cloak, and white hair with a mullet, working with a couple of electrical tools.

He looked up when he saw Slade, showing surprise on his face.

Slade then said coldly, "More excellent, at last. Hello, Nicolai."

_That's all for now! For those who don't know who Nicolai is, Google "Nicolai Danny Phantom" and you'll find out. Anyway, what could Slade possibly have in store that concerns a trip through the Ghost Zone, and that ties Spectra and Bertrand into it? Look out for Chapter 3!_


	3. A Phantom's Premonition

_Hi, guys! I must say, I was a bit disappointed with the total of reviews for the last chapter, as well as overall so far. But I think it'll pick up once the plot really gets rolling._

_Let's head to Chapter 3! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Three: A Phantom's Premonition**

The ghost in the labcoat pointed at his unexpected guest in anger, "You dare to infiltrate my lair, human? The lair of Technus, ghost master of electronic gizmos and gadgets?"

Slade responded softly, "Looks like I just did."

Technus scratched his chin and said, "Aren't you that guy that Vlad Plasmius ordered me to help spy on? Slade, is it?"

"That would be me. And I've come here to do a little shopping, if that's okay."

Technus replied angrily, "No, it's not okay!"

"That actually was not a request, my friend."

Slade then pulled a staff out and lunged at Technus. Technus quickly generated an electrical fabric that attempted to wrap itself around Slade. But thinking fast, Slade stuck his staff into the ground and pushed himself upward. He was propelled above the fabric and landed a kick to Technus's face.

He stumbled backward and scowled. He then raised his arms and the weapons that stood around him glowed green, coming to life. They then turned towards Slade and started firing at him.

With impressive agility and grace for someone so powerful, Slade skillfully maneuvered around the beams and lasers that were fired at him. He was able to move into spots where they ended up blasting each other and exploding.

He then charged back at Technus, who quickly threw a grenade at him. Slade dodged it, but a huge explosion went off from where it hit, engulfing a mass area in smoke. The blast was enough to at least knock Slade backward before the smoke reached him as well.

Technus flew up over the smoke in an attempt to catch Slade in his sights. But he was nowhere.

He scratched his chin, without noticing the masked man in armor jump up from behind him and land a punch to his upper back, knocking him down to the ground.

After knocking his foe down, Slade asked him, "Doesn't look like Technus 2.0 is working much for you. Maybe you should consider upgrading to Technus 3.0."

"I don't have that technology, human!"

"You may not have the technology that you need, but you do have the technology that _I_ need."

* * *

Meanwhile, our favorite trio was walking through the interior of Amity Park as the hot and humid July weather beat down upon them. Nasty Burger was currently their destination.

Tucker chuckled excitedly, "Oh, man. Do you remember when Danny knocked that sword out of Bertrand's hands and he just screamed like…"

"Tucker," Sam interrupted with an annoyed look on her face, "It was fun the first hundred times you talked about the battle, but now it's getting old."

Danny then asked him, "Do you want to give it a rest before I lose my appetite?"

Tucker put his hands up, "Okay, okay, just chill."

As they turned onto the next street, Danny started to dart his eyes around in different directions.

Sam asked him, "Danny, are you looking for something?"

"Huh? Oh, um, no. I'm just looking for something that I hope isn't there."

Tucker scratched his head, "Say what?"

"I just mean that…oh, never mind."

Sam stated, "You know, it's normally not good to…"

"There he is!" Danny shouted out of nowhere as he ran forward ahead of them.

Tucker and Sam ran after him, with Tucker calling out, "There who is?"

Just then, Danny stopped. His two friends stopped so suddenly out of surprise that they fell down.

Annoyed, Sam got back up, "Okay, what was that all about?"

Looking somewhat mortified, Danny responded, "I…I thought I just saw Slade."

They both looked a bit alarmed at hearing this. Then Tucker asked him, "What do you mean you thought you just saw Slade?"

Danny pointed to the end of the street they were currently on, "Well, it's just that I saw him right at the end of the street. I ran toward him, but then he just seemed to vanish before my eyes."

Sam said, "Looks like these dreams you've been having are starting to go to your head. You're starting to hallucinate."

Danny sighed, "He just seemed so real. For a second. And it's not just that. I had this weird feeling."

Tucker raised an eyebrow, "What kind of weird feeling?"

"I don't know. It just felt like…like something bad was going to happen. Something really bad. But I don't feel it anymore now."

The two of them now looked very much worried as he said this. Tucker then said, "Come on, man. We got to get some food in your belly. I think you're so hungry that you're losing your mind."

Danny shook his head, "Nah. You guys go. I'm not hungry; I'll just go home for a while."

They both seemed perplexed as Danny turned around and walked back towards Fenton Works, but didn't respond. They simply watched as their best friend departed from their company, and then continued to Nasty Burger.

* * *

Technus was now getting really mad as he was given a kick to his chest and knocked down. The fact that humans were the ghosts in the Ghost Zone didn't apply because of the chemical compound that Slade had inside him.

He shouted at Slade, "You can't keep this up forever, human!"

Slade responded coolly, "Maybe I can't…but can you?" He then pushed a button on his wrist.

Technus looked quite confused as suddenly, all his machines began shaking, and then they all started to crash!

"No!" Technus cried in dismay, "My beautiful technology! How are you doing this?"

"Just a little virus I implanted into your computer while I was covered in smoke. Do you honestly take me for a fool?"

As all of Technus's machines suddenly shut down, he then turned back to Slade, "But how does this help you? My technology may be out of order, but I'm still running one hundred percent!"

"Are you?" asked a different girlish voice.

Just as Technus was turning around, a dart suddenly flew out and struck him in the cheek of his face. It was the same dart that Slade had used against the Teen Titans last month! Suddenly Technus stopped moving as he shouted, "What is happening to me?"

Penelope Spectra walked toward him holding a dart gun with Bertrand the blob beside her, while Slade said, "Your nerves have seized up. Thanks to them."

Spectra grinned, "My pleasure, Slade." With that, the two of them then turned around and left.

Slade then walked to the corner of the room and took a few boxes off the shelf, which contained a bunch of round devices with red bumps on four sides of them.

Technus asked him, "What do you want with those detonators? They're not even strong enough to knock down a door! I haven't had time to work on them."

"I, on the other hand," Slade answered, "Have plenty of them. And rest assured, they will be strong enough to knock down much more than a door. Good day."

Carrying five small boxes rather easily in his arms, Slade walked out with a look of pleasure hidden behind his mask.

* * *

Satisfied at his accomplishments as he returned to his lair, Slade said to himself, "A fine day's work. Danny's in the dark, I have what I need, and I have a full five days to get everything ready."

Slade opened the door to his lair and stepped inside. He turned the lights on…and a few seconds later wished that he hadn't.

There was nobody else inside, but instead there was debris and junk scattered all across the room. It seemed more like a tornado had hit the interior of his lair while he had been out.

"Looks like somebody had a play date that I didn't know about," Slade said, looking unamused and angry.

_Quite a surprise Slade's run into, huh? Whatever his plan may be, it's going to have to take a detour for now. As for Danny, could his little illusion of Slade just have been a coincidence, or a sign of things to come? Let's wait for Chapter 4!_


	4. My Troubled Mind

_Greetings, readers! Sorry for the wait; I've been busy with the upcoming final exams, so I haven't had a lot of time, coupled with my disappointment in not getting that many reviews here. Hopefully more will come soon enough._

_Let's move to Chapter 4! Looks like Slade has a problem or two now!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Four: My Troubled Mind**

Slade kicked a few pieces of debris out of his way in anger as he moved through his lair, heading back to Skulker's dimension twister. A lot of other stuff was destroyed and some that had been contained in numerous boxes were spilled out onto the floor, but he didn't really care about all that, as long as the dimension twister and the power cell were still in tact.

He said quite coolly, "I'll be sure to punish whoever thought up this as an idea of a joke."

"Ah, yes!" another goofy voice rang out from above. Slade looked up and saw a short and chubby blue ghost with a worker-type uniform, which included a goofy hat on top.

He shouted in a poor attempt to sound intimidating, "This was the joke of me, the Box Ghost! Who saw boxes upon boxes with useless gadgets, and emptied them all, leaving the boxes' marvelous squareness under my control!"

He then laughed goofily with his eyes closed and cried, "Beware!"

He then opened his eyes and saw that Slade was nowhere in sight. The detonators he had gotten from Technus were sitting on the floor.

"Uh…I am the Box Ghost!"

But just like that, Slade jumped out from behind him and tackled him through the air, resulting in both of them crashing into the ground.

Furious at what had happened, Slade said coldly as he lifted the Box Ghost up by his collar, "Feel very lucky at the fact that I don't have the time to punish you for destroying my lair."

His voice shrunk to a dangerous whisper as he continued, "But make no mistake. Next time, you will pay."

By now, the Box Ghost looked basically terrified out of his wits. He stammered with a look of unmistakable fear imprinted on his face, "Y-yes, s-s-sir."

Slade threw him backwards to the ground, and the Box Ghost got up and flew out of the lair like a bullet, screaming, "MOMMY!"

Slade grumbled as the goofy ghost left, "Pest." He walked back over to the dimension twister.

When he reached it, he observed it carefully. It was dent in some places, but hadn't really taken a lot of damage.

After a careful search of it, Slade concluded, "Damaged, but still fully functional with a few twists and turns."

He then stepped away from it and said, "Pity. I'd actually be willing to steal another one if it weren't for the fact that the time to act was only five days away."

When he turned to look at the power cell, he saw that was in worse condition than the twister. A few holes were implanted in it and a green fluid was leaking out. It also was dent in several other places.

Slade shook his head, "My own devices will take too long to fix the power cell, and it may still be not fully powered."

He then turned away and sneered behind his mask, "But I know what devices can, and make it even better than it was."

* * *

"_Get away from me!" Danny Phantom screamed in fear as he flew through Amity Park, whose buildings had all but been obliterated. Fires were crackling all throughout the city and the people were screaming in panic. The sky was had begun to glow red up above them all._

_Danny himself wasn't much better off. He had bruises on his arms and legs, portions of his suit were torn, cuts accompanied his face, a large bump was visible just above his left eye, and he had a black eye on his right._

_He wildly fired a ghost ray at the masked man in rocket boots who was chasing him through the air, but it looked very weak and died down short of its target._

_Danny felt his energy draining for some reason. He struggled to stay up in the air, but he felt as though he was becoming heavier and heavier as he descended to the ground._

_When he was close to the ground, he felt his assailant tackle him from the air behind him and drive him down into the ground. His body ached painfully as he felt weaker, and weaker._

_Slade said softly to the ghost boy as he got up, "You knew it was going to end like this." He watched as Danny tried desperately to get up, "You knew you couldn't avoid me forever, Danny. No matter how hard you tried."_

_Danny found it hard for him to speak as he only managed to reply, "No…"_

_Feeling more tired and weaker than ever, he felt a pair of rings split through his body and transform him back into Danny Fenton._

_Slade picked Danny up by his collar and held him up in the air._

_Responding to Danny, Slade said with his voice ice-cold, "Yes. It's over, Danny. Forever."_

_He swung his fist towards the young man's face. Danny could do nothing to protect himself as Slade's fist made contact…

* * *

_

With a gasp, Danny sat up. He looked around and saw that he was in his bedroom. With his face sweating profusely and himself panting, he looked over at his clock for the umpteenth time in the last month.

6:13 AM.

He groaned and whispered to himself, "Aw, man…"

Another nightmare. And yet…this one had seemed more real than the previous ones. The pain, the weakness, the fear…it had all seemed very much realistic to him.

Danny lied back down and turned over, trying to get back to sleep. He tried for about half an hour before it was clear as crystal that he wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon.

Sighing in resolution, Danny got up and started tiredly through his morning routine. Shower, teeth brushed, get dressed, go downstairs for breakfast. He was feeling like toast and orange juice this particular morning, so he grabbed a couple pieces of bread and put them in the toaster, than poured orange juice into a glass as he waited.

Danny sighed and started thinking, _Don't really want to have breakfast this early on July 29th where there's no school, but I guess I have no choice due to circumstances. I'll probably tell Tucker and Sam about this later._

He hadn't gone to hang out with them yesterday after the somewhat chaos that had ensued the day before. He wasn't feeling in the mood after thinking he had seen Slade on their way to Nasty Burger. He had stayed home the rest of the day, and all day the next day.

Danny's toast popped up. He loaded them onto his plate and spread butter on them. He ate that and drank his orange juice, still thinking quite a bit of thinking.

_I got to try and get over this stuff with Slade before I lose my mind. But it seems impossible to me, especially since I can't shake the feeling that there maybe something bad on the way._

Danny's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he suddenly heard something behind him. It sounded like the opening and closing of a door. Danny turned around in surprise, but saw that the doors leading to the kitchen were wide open.

He sighed and said to himself, "Great. Now I'm hearing things."

* * *

Danny had his hands deep inside his pockets as he walked through Amity Park by himself as the sun slowly rose in the east behind him. The warm weather felt comfortable this early, but Danny was hardly paying attention. 

_Maybe I shouldn't tell Sam and Tuck about the nightmare after all, _Danny thought, _They might get worried and think I'm losing my mind or something._

Danny's life hadn't exactly gone completely back to normal after he had deserted Slade last month. He had been left with a very anxious feeling as well as the definite thought that Slade was still out there somewhere, probably biding his time until they met again. That though gave Danny a cold and sickly feeling in his stomach.

Thoughts had crossed through his head about maybe going to see a therapist or something to help him with this, but he had quickly discarded them since awkward questions would probably arise. He went to Jazz and his friends for their own attempts at therapy, but it didn't seem to do the trick.

_I just can't put this out of my mind, _Danny thought, _I won't be able to rest until Slade is officially out of my life for good. But who knows how long it'll be before I actually meet him again._

But just as what happened at Fenton Works only a little while ago, Danny's thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly heard a crash. He turned his head in the direction where he had heard it and discovered that he was in the area of Axion Labs.

Danny was getting a vague feeling of déjà vu as he saw smoke rising from the building, with a look of uneasiness on his face.

_This is the way Chapter 4 will end! Looks like Danny's mind has been more troubled than before. Could it just be another coincidence? And what is Slade doing now that the power cell has been damaged? Questions will be answered in Chapter 5!_

_And DP fans, don't you dare miss the movie "School's Out-Ghouls Out" tonight at 8 PM on Nick! Looks really exciting to me!_


	5. The Flame Rekindles

_Hello, all! How are things for you? Again, I am disappointed with the review total. I'm puzzled as to how popular the first two fics of this trilogy were in comparison to this one. Ah, well. I've been busy studying for exams, so I haven't had a lot of time to update. Anyway…_

_Wait's over now! Let's go to Chapter 5, where there's trouble at Axion Labs._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Five: The Flame Rekindles**

Danny had vague suspicions as to who might be causing trouble over at the large building that stood a short distance in front of him.

A smile then took Danny's face for the first time in two days as he said, "Maybe a little action will calm me down a little. I'm going ghost!"

In a flash of light, he transformed into Danny Phantom, and jumped into the air. He turned the jump into a flight as he flew towards Axion Labs, in the direction where he saw the smoke emerging from, but not straight into the smoke itself.

Once he phased inside the building, he saw he was in a hallway. He looked around and simply saw a fire at one end of the hall. He turned and flew down the other, hoping to catch whoever was responsible for the current destruction.

He saw he was now in the large room where the ghost dog had dragged him through while a bunch of lasers had fired through him the very first time he had come to Axion.

But before the ghost boy could get an opportunity to appreciate the moment, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Movement.

In a flash, Danny turned to where he saw the movement originate from.

Someone was running towards another door with a few tools in his hands. He had gray patches of armor on his dark clothing. Danny gasped as he suddenly recognized who it was.

Even if he was facing him from behind, there was no mistaking him. It was him, the man who had been in his nightmares for the last month. The man he had never once forgotten since meeting him. The man that he once called his master.

"Slade," Danny growled.

But he didn't respond. He simply kept on running, disappearing past the door and out of his sight.

Scowling, Danny flew after him, attempting to catch him somewhere. But he saw a number of different halls in this portion of the building that led to many other parts. With Slade currently not in his range of sight, Danny knew he must have gone into one of them.

Danny sighed in frustration, "Oh, great. Who knows what hallway he could've gone into? I could be here all day looking for him."

He phased through a number of walls and tried to find Slade in one of them, but he didn't see the masked madman in any of them.

Sighing in resolution, Danny phased out of the building, reappearing outside of it.

He looked around and said to himself, "Maybe I was just seeing things again." He quickly shook the idea off, "No. Then where could that smoke have come from?"

Danny thought for a minute. He knew Slade wouldn't just run right into him. He was going to try and find another way out. There was no telling which way he would go.

He then said to himself as he realized, "Wait a minute. I think Slade must have been who I heard earlier at my house! Which means he must've set up a new lair in the Ghost Zone."

Smiling as he now knew how he could head him off, Danny flew away from Axion in the direction of Fenton Works.

* * *

A short time later, Slade stood in front of a wall on the side of Fenton Works, a side where there were no windows. He got down on the ground and pushed a button on the bottom of the wall.

Just like that, the bottom of the wall began to slide further under the house. Then some of the ground began to disappear, revealing a door that seemed to lead downward.

A computer-like screen then slid into place where the wall disappeared from, with a mechanical voice similar to Jack's saying, "Please enter password for access to laboratory."

Without a word, Slade pushed a few choice buttons on the keyboard until it spelled out the word, "Ghost." He then hit the "Enter" button.

The mechanical voice replied, "Password accepted. Enjoy the fudge. I mean, weapons."

"Fool," Slade said as the doors opened. He walked down the steps of the hidden entrance into the basement of Fenton Works, which, of course, contained the laboratory where Jack and Maddie worked on various weapons used for combating and capturing ghosts.

As the hidden entrance slid back into the wall it once was, Slade turned to the portal which led to the Ghost Zone and said with a hidden delight, "Excellent."

"Think again, freak!" A voice rang out as a green blast suddenly shot through the wall next to the portal. Slade was caught off-guard as he was hit and driven back to the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Slade looked up just as Danny Phantom flew into sight, a look of blazing intensity on his face.

"Danny," Slade stated, "Long time, no see. And things had been running so smoothly until now."

Danny replied with a scowl, "Looks like your so-called smooth road is about to take a detour."

"I wish I could chat with an old apprentice of mine, but I'm right in the middle of something. I'll deal with you later."

"I don't think so," Danny answered fiercely, not wanting to let Slade out of his sight, "_I'll_ deal with _you_ right now."

"So eager to see me now, are you, young man? Having trouble sleeping lately, are you?"

As chills ran up Danny's spine, he didn't respond, nor did he look surprised. He knew enough about him by now to not be surprised that Slade knew so much about him.

Slade went on with a dangerously soft tone, "I told you that it wouldn't be over. I told you that I would always be a part of you. In your thoughts, your eyes, your dreams."

Angrily, Danny fired another ghost ray at his foe, but he jumped out of the way, leaving the tools that he had stolen sitting on the ground.

Danny shouted back as he tried to keep his re-found fear of Slade far beneath the surface, "I beat you last time, creep! And it's gonna be worse for you this time around!"

"Danny, my boy, if you have truly beat me, then why am I still around? Why couldn't you just destroy me then?"

"Because you pulled a smoke screen and ran like a coward!"

"One part of knowing how to fight is knowing when you can't win, Danny."

As he fired more ghost rays at Slade, Danny responded, "And these words are coming from the guy who knocked me around because I fled from my first battle with the Titans?"

As he jumped around the attacks with ease, Slade said, "You were at a disadvantage then." He pulled out a circular disk and said, "Just as you are about to be now."

Before Danny could respond, Slade through the disk up at a light bulb that stuck down from the ceiling.

_**SMASH!**_

The light bulb broke apart into many pieces, leaving total darkness, save for the light emerging from the portal, to engulf the room.

Danny backed towards the portal as he looked around. Slade was nowhere in sight.

Danny knew what Slade was trying to do. He was trying to blend in with the darkness so he couldn't attack him with nearly as much accuracy and precision. And it was working. But if he couldn't see Slade, that probably meant that Slade couldn't…

_**BANG!**_

Without warning, Danny felt Slade's foot drill him in the side of his head and knock him down. He quickly looked up, and, thanks to the light, saw Slade moving towards the portal, with the tools back in his hands. Danny quickly fired waves of ectoplasm on the ground. Slade jumped it, but Danny quickly flew into the air and gave him a hard punch, knocking him into the corner of the lab.

Now out of Danny's sight, the ghost boy could only call out into the darkness, "What are you doing with those tools? And why am I seeing you in so many dreams?"

"I have my reasons in terms of these tools. As for your most recent dreams of destruction, doom, and your powers weakening, they are understandable."

Although Danny wasn't surprised at the fact that Slade knew he was having dreams, he still wondered how he had found out.

"How do you know I'm having these dreams?" Danny asked him, still keeping a ready stance in case Slade tried to pull a surprise attack on him, even as he felt the fear slowly beginning to replace his anger and intensity.

"A little trip to another realm of the Ghost Zone helped. A crystal ball that allows whoever looks into it to see into the dreams of any ghost. Naturally, I chose you."

"Okay, I know I've said this to Vlad before, but you really deserve this. You really are one seriously crazed-up froot-loop!"

Just then, he felt himself receive a punch in the gut. He felt the wind get knocked out of him as Slade said to him, "You know, your main disadvantage in the dark is your glowing green eyes."

Danny tried to kick Slade, but he missed by a wide margin. He then turned back to the portal and saw Slade's figure right in front of it.

Danny frantically flew towards him, but Slade quickly threw a large round chip at him. It hit and a mechanical corset appeared, locking his arms, knocking him to the ground, and shocking him. Danny screamed as pain coursed through his body.

Finally the pain stopped, but Danny was too weakened to break free of the corset as Slade looked at him.

Danny yelled out to him, "Why am I having these dreams? And what are you planning?"

Slade didn't answer directly. He simply said, "Just know this, young man. For you, the clock is ticking. Your demise is approaching faster than you may hope. Good day to you."

Danny wanted to answer back, but his airways seemed constricted, preventing him from speaking. All he could do was watch as Slade stepped through the Fenton Portal into the Ghost Zone, sitting there with a look that was a mix of confusion and fear.

_That ends Chapter 5! What do you think Slade could've meant by all that stuff he said to Danny? Unfortunately for all of you, _I_ am the only one who knows for sure. You'll just have to suffer through, wondering what. Will Danny be up to the challenge, whatever it is? Let's wait until Chapter 6!_


	6. Gathering Helpers

_Hi, guys! How is everything? Again, I am quite confused as to how many reviews and how many hits I'm getting for this fic in comparison to the first two of this trilogy. I really don't understand it. But I'm in a good mood since this was my last day of school. Woo-hoo!_

_Anyway, this will be my last update for more than a week. Tomorrow afternoon, my family and I are driving to New York, and then hopping a plane Saturday for Las Vegas! Should be fun, I hope! I won't be back until the 24th, so you'll have to make due until then._

_Let's hit Chapter 6! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Six: Gathering Helpers**

"That's all he told you?" Jazz asked Danny the next morning as they, along with Sam and Tucker, sat in the Fentons' living room. Danny, Sam, and Tucker all sat on the couch while Jazz sat in one of the chairs. Jack and Maddie were out doing shopping on this muggy Friday.

Danny shrugged, not sure what else to tell her, "Basically. I don't know what he's trying to do. All I know is that he needed those tools, and that it's understandable for me to be having those dreams."

Tucker said to him, "And these latest dreams, you said they were…"

"They involved Amity Park all but destroyed, the sky a blood-red, Slade with jet boots chasing me through the air, and me slowly losing my powers," Danny interrupted, reciting it simply. He had had another nightmare similar to what he had just stated last night.

Sam sighed and asked him, "They aren't just dreams, are they?"

Danny sighed back, "I don't think so, Sam. But it could be that Slade's lying to me just to set me up as a pawn in his own twisted evil game like last time." His eyes glowed green with anger as he said this.

Jazz stated, "You should probably try looking at all the possibilities. Let's say that Slade meant what he said about the dreams and that they mean something. What do you do?"

"Probably live my life in fear and anxiousness until I figure out what he's talking about."

"And what if he's lying, like you guessed, and the dreams don't mean anything at all?"

"Probably just kick his butt next time I see him."

Tucker then said to his best friend, "I'm thinking that he's probably thinking you're not gonna fall for the same stunt again."

Danny scowled, "Thanks. That makes me feel so much better. Now there's probably a bigger chance that something totally evil is approaching, and I have no idea what it may be."

* * *

And unfortunately for Danny, this was what was happening. 

Slade tightened a few more bolts on the power cell in his further attempt to get it working for the last day. With two days until August 1st, he knew time was steadily running short.

Finally he put his green wrench down, and pushed a button on the cell. It beeped for a few seconds, as he was hoping, and then it began to glow a bright red, which was also as he was hoping.

"Excellent," Slade said in pleasure, "The power cell is back up and running at optimum efficiency."

He then picked up the boxes full of Technus's detonators which sat on the ground and placed them on the table where he had set the power cell. He proceeded to open a small section of one detonator, and then one section of the cell. Carefully, Slade tilted the cell, and a few drops of green liquid dropped into the detonator.

Slade closed the detonator, "Safe as long as it's not going off, and one teaspoon should do the job."

He carefully went on with his procedure, pouring a small bit of the liquid inside the cell into each of the detonators. But as he approached the end of the first box of detonators, he ran into a snag. The power cell was empty.

Slade examined the cell with his hand, "Empty. And not nearly enough of the detonators have been filled."

He put the cell into a drawer and closed it. He then turned towards a computer in his lair and said, "No matter. With one last trip, this little mishap can be solved, along with one last call."

He then began to do a bunch of typing on his computer.

* * *

"Let's go over a couple of things," Jazz said to her brother as the four of them still sat in the living room. 

"Shoot," Danny replied.

"I know you don't like talking about it, but…what did Slade tell you to steal when you…were his apprentice…last month?"

Danny's face fell as he recalled a time in his life he was very far from being proud of.

"Not hard to remember," Danny answered, "That weapon from DALV co., some computer disk, some other type of chip which I didn't manage to steal…and some power cell from Axion."

"Did Slade use the power cell in his weapon that he commanded you to destroy us with?"

Danny's eyes opened wide. What Jazz was saying did make sense. He then replied, "No. I don't know what happened to it either."

Tucker suddenly exclaimed, "I got it!"

Everyone else stared at him with a look of boredom.

Tucker's face then fell as he said with a scowl, "Okay, so I don't got it."

Sam sighed as she lightly slapped her forehead, "Oh, open your eyes, Tucker! It's obvious that Slade still has that power cell and it's probably playing a part in his newest scheme!"

Danny then stated, "Key word is 'probably', Sam. We can't just assume."

Sam asked him, "Anything else you can think Slade might be planning?"

Danny thought for a minute, and then responded, "No."

Jazz answered for the Goth girl, "Then this is the only lead we've got, for now."

Trying to brighten the mood, Tucker said in a happy tone, "Look, why don't we all just quit this dour mood between the four of us? We could head to Nasty Burger, maybe go see a movie, check out the latest techno-gadgets at the mall, or maybe…"

The techno-geek was interrupted by the ring of the door bell.

Sam chuckled, "Saved by the bell."

Danny sighed as he got up from the couch, "I wonder who that could be."

As he approached the door, he turned his head back to Jazz and asked her, "Jazz, are you sure it's not this week that Aunt Alicia is supposed to stop by for a visit?"

Jazz responded point-blank as Danny put his hand on the doorknob, "Absolutely sure. Besides, Mom and Dad wouldn't have gone out knowing she was coming. It would be more likely that Dad would do it alone."

Danny chuckled as he turned the doorknob and pulled it open.

The smile on his face was suddenly replaced by a look of surprise as he saw who was there.

They were five people whom he had fought against when he had first met them. Five people, like himself, gifted with extraordinary abilities. Five people whom he wasn't sure when he'd ever see again.

Robin said to the ghost boy, "Danny. I'm glad you're home. We need to talk to you."

_Well, look who's arrived in Danny's doorway! Maybe Danny will get some answers now that the Teen Titans have arrived. Anyone still have a clue as to what Slade might be planning, and where he might be going for his last trip? Well, you'll have about 10 days to think about it. Chapter 7 will come when I get back! Ta-ta until then!_


	7. One Last Piece

_Good evening, everyone! How is everything? Finally got back from Vegas yesterday; it was really fun and there was a heck of a lot to do. But since you all probably are wanting to check out the next chapter right away, I won't go into details._

_Long wait's over! Chapter 7 is here!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Seven: One Last Piece**

Danny looked somewhat perplexed as he shook his fellow hero's hand, "Robin! Oh, hi. I wasn't sure I'd be seeing you guys again. Come on in."

Robin nodded, "Thanks." He walked inside, with the remaining Titans following behind him.

Jazz said brightly, "Hi, guys! How have the five of you been?"

Cyborg answered with a grin, "Nothing special. Same old, same old."

Raven added darkly, "As long as you count Beast Boy burping 'Ninety-nine Bottles of Milk on the Wall' last week 'nothing special'."

Tucker chuckled and Beast Boy scowled, while Danny asked, "So why did you guys come here?"

Cyborg replied, "I've detected Slade. He showed up back in this city yesterday in some kind of burglary of a company called Axion Labs. We thought we'd come here to let you know."

Starfire added, "Since we know that Danny has experienced much turmoil with Slade."

Danny sighed and answered, "Thanks for coming, but I already know about Slade's robbery of Axion. I was there too and I tried to stop him."

Robin asked, "Did you manage it?"

Danny sighed again, "No. He got away through my folks' portal with a few tools."

Beast Boy waved his hand, "Dude, it's no big. You'll get him next time."

"Well, that is actually something I want to talk with the five of you about," Danny said. He then looked around to the eight of them, who were all looking at the ghost boy with curious looks.

"I think Slade's up to something bad."

Raven muttered, "That's a big surprise."

Robin asked him, "What do you think he's up to?"

Danny just shrugged at this, "I don't know. He wasn't being clear when I talked to him yesterday."

Cyborg asked him, "What was he talking to you about?"

Danny recited what had happened the best he could. The countless dreams he had been having, seeing flashes of Slade when he wasn't there, his latest dreams of terrible things happening, and what Slade said to him about those dreams, and about his possible future demise.

When he was done, the Titans were simply staring at him, not saying a word. They looked confused or worried; Danny couldn't tell.

Starfire asked the ghost boy, "Why would you be having these dreams?"

Danny threw his arms out, "I don't know. He said it's understandable for me to have them, but I have no clue as to why."

Robin scratched his chin, and then turned to Cyborg, "Cyborg, can you run a web search on anything that may happen over the next couple of days?"

"Why?" Cyborg asked him, looking confused.

"If Danny's having dreams that Slade seems to think he should be having and is also so sure that Danny's end is coming, there must be something going on that he actually has nothing to do with, but is probably in his advantage."

Cyborg nodded, "Alright." Then his right mechanical arm opened up, revealing a bunch of high-tech equipment inside. He said, "Let's see…now where is that computer for me to…"

"Done!" Tucker's voice rang out as he held up his PDA.

Cyborg scowled at being beaten to the info, while Robin walked over to the techno-geek. He took the PDA from his hands and asked him, "What have you got?"

Tucker answered with a shrug, "Not that much. Just that two days from now is the next solar eclipse."

Beast Boy piped up, "Oh, I know what that means!"

The Titans all stared at him with one eyebrow raised.

Beast Boy then pouted and grumbled, "Okay, so I don't know what that means."

Jazz sighed, "I can explain. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun. When that happens, it can completely or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun."

Sam said, "Well, that doesn't say much."

Just then, Danny gasped as a blue mist escaped his mouth.

Before they even knew what was happening, ghosts began phasing through the wall inside Fenton Works, all identical between each other. They wore uniforms, helmets, and carried nightsticks in their hands.

Finally one last ghost flew in. He was pale-skinned and wore a trench coat.

Looking quite surprised, Danny said, "Walker!"

Walker sneered, "Look out, punk. We're here to take you back where you belong."

"I don't think so!" Danny shouted, "I'm going ghost!"

A ring split at his midsection and went through him, transforming him into Danny Phantom.

"'Going ghost'?" Raven said to him with sarcasm, "Oh, that's really clever."

Robin shouted, "Titans, go!"

Danny and the Titans instantly sprang into action.

* * *

A lone figure moved with impressive stealth through the interior of a large building. Guards marched throughout it, searching for any intruders.

But Slade stayed out of their sights as he carefully moved through the building until he found the room he was looking for.

Fortunately for him, budget cuts had only allowed the building manual security. They didn't have a lot of alarms or sensors to pick up unwanted visitors.

Thanks to this, Slade walked inside a large room, which had a few shelves with various items on them. He walked along next to the shelves, finally stopping in front of a large rectangular package made of metal.

He took it off the shelf and said softly, "At last. The final piece. Capable of creating an exact copy of any item I wish, as long as it's no longer than two feet."

In pleasure at what he had accomplished, Slade turned back and left the building the way he had come in, with equal ease and the lack of detection of his precense.

* * *

"Aargh!" Danny grunted loudly as he fired ghost rays at a number of Walker's henchmen. A few were hit, while others dodged the attacks.

Robin threw a bird-arang at one henchman, but he simply laughed and phased through it. The same thing happened when he threw another bird-arang at another henchman.

He shouted, "I can't hit them!"

Beast Boy, as an elephant, was trying to stomp on a few henchmen at once, but they phased through him as well.

Cyborg then fired his sonic cannon at a few more of them, but they also phased through the blows. He called out to his fellow Titans, "BB and I can't hit 'em either!"

"But I can," Raven said coldly, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

A wave of dark energy encased the couch. It flew off the ground and crashed into a number of henchmen, driving them down to the ground.

Starfire fired her eyebeams at Bullet, Walker's right-hand man. They hit even as he tried to go intangible. He was driven backwards and hit the wall.

She then cried, "As can I!"

"Raven!" Robin shouted, "Use your power to trap those ghosts!"

Raven nodded while Danny punched and kicked a few more henchmen on the ground. She then encased a large chair in her dark energy and it flew off the ground. It opened up extra-wide around a couple henchmen and trapped them inside. They struggled, but couldn't break free.

"Cyborg!" Robin then shouted, "Hit 'em!"

"You got it!" Cyborg yelled back as he fired his sonic cannon. It hit and they were all beaten hard.

While Danny was now sucking a few henchmen into the Fenton Thermos, Walker flew straight down towards Robin and tried to grab him. He quickly rolled out of the way and through a disc at him. Walker had no time to go intangible as he was hit and knocked hard backward.

But from behind him, another henchmen flew towards Robin, and flew inside of him!

Robin grunted for a few seconds, but stopped as his eyes glowed red, smiling sinisterly.

"Oh no!" Sam cried from a safe distance, "Robin's been overshadowed!"

Starfire flew at Robin, but then another henchman pointed his nightstick at Starfire and fired. It hit and handcuffs and legcuffs appeared on her, trapping her!

Raven ducked a blow as a henchman tried to kick her. She then gave him a hard punch, knocking him down.

Danny, panting, then said to his friends and allies, "Cover your ears, everyone."

They did as they were told as Danny opened his mouth, and unleashed his ghostly wail. As it always did, it sent powerful waves of energy in all directions. The henchmen screamed loudly and were blown backward. The ghost in Robin was blown out of him as well as everyone covered their ears in a feeble attempt to block out the noise.

Finally, Danny was forced to change back into Danny Fenton as he fell to one knee.

Seeing the thermos on the ground, he tossed it to Beast Boy, "Suck these guys inside, won't you?"

Beast Boy caught the thermos and said, "Uh, right!" Then he looked at it and said, "Uh, how do you work this thing?"

Robin quickly walked over and swiped the thermos, "I'll take that."

He then did as he saw Danny do, sucking Walker and his henchem into the Fenton Thermos until there were none left.

Danny sighed, "Glad all that's over."

Just then, he felt something rush through his eyes. He gave a loud gasp as the feelings he had felt in his latest dreams happening again. He felt weak, drained, like something bad was going to happen…

But whatever had rushed through his eyes as well as the bad feelings he was getting disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

Jazz said worriedly as she walked over, "Danny? What is it?"

Robin asked him, "What just happened?"

Danny held his head as he hesitated before reponding in a blank tone, "I don't know…"

_That ends Chapter 7! Still leaves a sense of mystery out there, doesn't it? Well, now we know that the day that Slade is waiting for is the day of the solar eclipse. But what can that possibly mean? And still we wonder: what is he up to? We'll wait until Chapter 8!_


	8. Not Feeling Like Himself

_Hello there, people! Again, I was quite disappointed with the review total, so you've had a bit of a wait. The more reviews I get, the quicker I update. But I've also noticed that not a lot of people are actually reading this, and that really bugs me. Sometimes I wonder, maybe I should've just left it at two fics…but I made a choice._

_One more thing. Just recently, I've been thinking about a new fanfic: a really long one. I may make it a cross between Danny Phantom, Kim Possible, AND Teen Titans. May or may not happen, but we'll see._

_Here's Chapter 8! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans. Watch out; this is a long chapter._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Eight: Not Feeling Like Himself**

Jazz asked Robin earnestly, "Are you sure you guys don't want to stay at least one night?"

Robin put his hand up as he and his fellow Titans stood by the door, "It's okay, Jazz. We just dropped by to inform you where Slade was. Besides, there's not as much room as the first time we came here."

Cyborg then said to all four teens, "But just stay in touch."

Tucker asked his fellow techno-whiz, "How are we gonna do that?"

Beast Boy chuckled, "Boy, are we glad that you asked."

Starfire gave a small clap, "Oh, how I do enjoy when this moment is to arrive!"

Sam turned to Raven and asked her glumly, "Is she always this happy?"

Raven replied, equally gloom, "You have no idea."

Danny cut in and said, "Uh, not to interrupt this little talk among Goths, but what exactly is going on?"

Robin answered, "Well, the five of us have actually talked it over for a while now. We trust you now even though you used to work for Slade, considering your current attitude towards him, and your skills are very impressive."

He then reached into his pocket and withdrew a small round device that could be opened up. It was yellow and black, and had a large letter T on it.

Curious, Danny asked, "What's that?"

"A communicator," Robin responded, "It's for you."

The trio and Jazz all raised their eyebrows, looking quite perplexed.

Robin went on, "Because the way we look at it, you're now an honorary Titan."

Danny smiled as Robin stated this, "Man, Robin. Thanks a bunch."

He took the communicator as Robin said to him, "If you ever need help, just give us a call."

Danny gave him thumbs up, "You got it."

As the Titans left with the exchange of goodbyes, Tucker complained, "Oh, come on! Why does Danny get all the cool stuff?"

* * *

_Danny felt like he was growing heavier as he descended to the ground. It wasn't something he was trying to do, and that was because he felt like he was carrying a cinder block on his back._

_Amity Park hardly looked like its usual state. Many apartments and buildings had been broken into, trees were bent and broken, fires crackled in several locations, the pavement on the streets and sidewalks had been broken apart, and the sky above glowed a bloody red. Hundreds of people lay in the grass and in the streets, many dead._

_The ghost boy finally fell to the ground with a thud. He grunted as he bounced along the ground, coming to a stop at the base of a tree._

_He frantically pulled out his communicator and spoke into it, "Danny…calling Robin. Danny to Robin! Are…you there?"_

_But all that came from the communicator was static. He shook it desperately, but no effect._

_Looking up, he saw a figure with flames shooting out the back of his shoes, flying right towards him._

_Danny moaned, "Got to get out of here…"_

_He struggled to his feet, but his legs wobbled. Still, he managed to stand up._

_He had no idea how this happened, as he tried to run for it. His powers had just begun to diminish out of nowhere. No gadgets had been used on him, no unusual powers, nothing._

_Sweat ran down Danny's tired face as he ran down the streets, all the while feeling weaker by the second._

_Finally he came to a stop, and saw he was in the park. Or, rather, what was left of it._

_He panted tiredly, "How…did this happen?"_

_Fire burned across the land. In desperation, he jumped up and tried to fly, but he had only just gotten airborne when he fell to the ground with another thud. He then bounced right to the edge of a hill, and rolled down it to the bottom. He hit the ground face-down._

_Danny turned himself up and suddenly gasped._

_On the ground in front of him, were the unmistakable figures of Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Jack, and Maddie. Their clothes were torn, blood was splattered across their skin, and they were groaning in extreme pain._

"_Mom! Dad!" Danny shouted as he hurried over, "Jazz! Tucker! Sam!"_

_But no one answered. Jack, Maddie, and Tucker had all passed out, while Sam and Jazz simply looked up at him with their eyes half-open._

_Danny wiped a bead of sweat out of his face and said, "Guys…what happened to you?"_

_Jazz replied in a dead tone, "You know what happened."_

_Sam added in an equal drone, "This is your fault."_

_Danny stammered in confusion and fear, "Wh-wh-what?"_

_Jazz again droned, "You let this happen, Danny…"_

_She passed out without another word. Danny rushed up to his fallen sister and cried, "JAZZ!"_

_He was directed away from her as Sam said to him, now with more feeling, "Like she said, you let this happen. You didn't help us when we needed it."_

"_But Sam, I…"_

"_No, Danny. It's too late for apologies. It's too late for anything now…"_

_She passed out as well. Danny now had tears rolling down his cheeks as he screamed, "SAM! NO!"_

"_Admiring the consequences of your failure, Daniel?" said a dark voice from behind him._

_Danny gasped and spun around, still feeling weaker, and saw Slade slowly walking towards him._

"_No…" Danny said fearfully, "This is your fault! I know it is!"_

"_You are the one who allowed this to happen. You are the one who caused this to happen. I merely work with my own advantages, and that includes your carelessness."_

_Danny didn't respond. He backed away from Slade, too afraid and/or weak to fight, and then turned and started to run away._

_But he hadn't run more than ten feet before he saw Slade landing from the air in front of him. Without warning, he delivered a hard punch to Danny's face, knocking him to the ground and staying there._

_Danny felt his remaining energy leaving him as he transformed back into Danny Fenton painfully._

_He looked up and saw Slade standing right over him, with one foot raised over his chest._

"_No…" Danny managed to utter._

"_Yes…" Slade responded, "This is the end, Danny. Your final moment."_

_All Danny could do was scream as loud as he could as Slade brought his foot down right onto its target…

* * *

_

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Danny panted as he sat up in bed. He looked around and saw everything was alright. No destruction, no evil, no dying loved ones.

He rubbed his eyes as he saw that it was 3:42 AM. After so many dreams in the last six weeks, all he could do was sigh.

After that, he simply said to himself, "Boy, that one was horrible. I can hardly take anymore of this."

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his door bursting open, and two familiar ghost hunters standing in the doorway, screaming, "WHERE'S THE GHOST!"

* * *

"Something is definitely wrong," Sam said that evening as she and her two best friends walked through the warm and windy evening.

Danny retorted, "Sam, could we talk about something else, please?"

"No! Danny, I'm really getting worried. Your nightmares are getting worse, and you've been getting these weird flashes and visions for the last few days."

This was true. The flashes that had run through Danny's eyes, which had come only once or twice a day, had come in the number of seven today.

Danny sighed, "Well, what are we supposed to do? As far as we all know, nothing weird is really going on right now. You heard Tucker yesterday. Just the solar eclipse tomorrow."

Tucker stated, "Well, it could be worse."

"Really?" Danny retorted irritably, "How?"

Just then, Danny's ghost sense went off.

Around them, the ground began to shake. It grew louder and stronger for several seconds, before they finally saw the ground splitting open, and something began to rise up out of it.

The figure was green at first, but then formed the shape of a blue dress, long black hair, and glowing green bracelets.

Danny simply said, "Desiree."

Tucker shrugged with a chuckle, "Okay, now it's worse."

"Not by much," Danny responded.

Desiree boomed, "On the contrary, ghost child! I am out to ruin you as you have before ruined me!"

Danny just waved his hand and said, "Oh, please. This'll be easy."

As Desiree suddenly put one finger and one thumb into each ear and pulled them back out, Danny said calmly, "I wish you were back in the Ghost Zone with none of us with you and no way out."

But Danny was shocked to find Desiree simply laughing at him and not moving anywhere!

"Hey!" Danny shouted, "What gives?"

"Ear plugs, child," Desiree responded, "I only grant the wishes I hear, so if I can't hear any wishes, they don't come true, which means that _this_ time, you can't use them to save yourself!"

"Wow," Sam said, "Looks like someone came prepared."

"Alright then," said Danny as he assumed a fighting stance, "Looks like we do this the old-fashioned way."

With that, he calmly transformed into Danny Phantom in front of her.

He wasted no time, jumping up into the air and flying towards her in an attempt to punch her lights out. But Desiree reacted quickly, ducking out of the way and dealing a Danny a hard kick, sending him crashing into a mail box and breaking it slightly and sending several letters spilling out.

Danny noticed where he had landed and said, "Hope I don't get arrested for this."

Up above him, Desiree's arms glowed an eerie light blue. She waved her arms, and a few cars and light poles glowed blue as well. They were then hurled off the ground and straight at the ghost boy. He quickly got behind the mail box and it hid him from the attacks, but one hit from a car broke the mail box off the ground, sending it, the car, and Danny all smashing into the wall of a building.

"Come on, Danny!" Tucker called out to him, "You can beat her!"

Danny quickly shook off the pain as he flew up and fired ghost rays at his foe. Two missed Desiree before one hit her in the head, fazing her for a moment.

While she was stunned, Danny quickly flew at her with his right leg extended in an attempt to kick her. But she regained her bearings just in time to reach out and grab Danny's leg. She then threw him down lower.

Danny looked up as Desiree's arm grew larger and grabbed hold of Danny, driving him to the ground and pinning him there.

Danny grunted as he tried to get free from Desiree's tight grip. But he couldn't. He couldn't seem to find the strength or power that he usually had.

Danny then looked over Desiree's shoulder and saw Sam had gotten out a mirror from her backpack and was holding it in his direction. She sometimes took it with her to check her black eyeliner.

He quickly got the idea. He could only move one arm, and he couldn't aim it at Desiree head-on. But he could…

The ghost boy muttered, "Let me see if I can get this just right…"

Fortunately, Desiree couldn't hear him as he concentrated hard, and fired a ghost ray with one finger that zoomed past her.

She smiled sinisterly at him as he missed, while Danny thought, _Come on, Sam._

The Goth girl held up the mirror as the ray neared her. Then it hit, and zoomed straight back towards Desiree!

Desiree smirked, "Any last words, young man?"

Just then, the ray hit her in the back, sending her crashing down and losing her grip on Danny.

Now free, Danny smirked, "Just this. Go away."

He then sent a round of ectoplasmic waves across the ground. They struck Desiree with a lot of force and she went flying through the air and crashed into a tree, sliding down to the bottom and staying there.

"Thermos, please," Danny said calmly.

Tucker threw the Fenton Thermos to him and he caught it. With a smile, he opened it up. Desiree could only scream as she was sucked inside the swirling vortex, disappearing before Danny closed it.

With a big sigh, Danny changed back into Danny Fenton and took a slow walk back to his companions.

Sam asked him, "You alright, Danny? You seemed shaky during the fight."

He answered, "Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm fine; I just didn't feel as strong as normal. Not really feeling like myself."

The three of them looked concerned as Tucker looked at his watch and said, "Oh, man. Getting late. Better hurry home. Got plans tomorrow."

Sam did the same and stated, "Yeah. Me too."

Danny looked quite perplexed at hearing this, "Wait. What do you mean you guys got plans?"

Tucker replied, "My family's heading upstate to see my boring grandparents. No way out of going."

Sam held her head, "And my parents are making me go with them to some stupid therapist. They think it'll 'brighten my attitude'."

Danny replied, "How long you guys gonna be gone for?"

Tucker put his hand up and said, "Oh, just one day."

Sam said, "I might even get back the same day tomorrow."

With a yawn, Danny said, "Yeah. Alright. I'm getting home too. See you tomorrow, guys."

Both of them said, "See ya," and the trio walked off towards their respective homes.

But Danny felt himself feeling much more tired than usual. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he made his way back to Fenton Works, thinking hard about the events of the last few days.

* * *

It was late at night. Slade watched the clock patiently. The grenades all sat filled on a table behind him. The dimension twister sat on one side of the room, waiting to be used.

"The pieces have been put together," Slade said calmly, "My pawns are in perfect position."

He watched as the second hand on the clock slowly ticked away towards midnight. August 1st. The day where Slade's evil plot would finally take place.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the hand struck the twelve.

With that, the clock began to ring one gong after another. As the number reached twelve, Slade finished in his darkest tone yet.

"And the day…has come…"

_Oh, boy! Flashes of Teen Titans "Birthmark", huh? But I promise you; the plot is nothing like what happened there. Anyway, looks like Danny's not feeling himself in battle, and things are only getting worse for him! And still, all of you are wondering: WHAT IS SLADE TRYING TO DO!_

_Well, for now, I am still the only one who knows! But your minds will finally be put to rest soon enough. For all the questions you may have asked, they will finally be answered in Chapter 9, coming soon!_


	9. The Madman's Methods

_Greetings, guys! I'm tired of talking about how disappointed I am that there aren't many people reviewing or even reading this story, so I'll just cut right to the chase. Just review, and I'll update faster!_

_Here we go! Chapter 9 is brought to you by me, the guy who doesn't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Nine: The Madman's Methods**

Danny felt noticeably more tired than usual as he got himself some lunch. Just a turkey sandwich and a soda; he wasn't in the mood for eating very much.

For once, he hadn't gotten any dreams last night. But he had felt somewhat groggy when he got up at almost 10:30 that morning. This didn't waver through a rather cold shower or breakfast, so he was now wondering when he would wake up. And now Tucker and Sam would be out for the day, so he was left to plan out the day's activities by himself.

"Danny!" a familiar voice rang out from behind him as he reached into the refrigerator for some bread.

Surprised, Danny turned around and saw Jack entering the room.

"Dad! Oh, uh, you startled me."

Jack ruffled his son's head playfully, resulting in a scowl from him. Jack paid no mind to this as he said, "Know what today is, son?"

Danny shrugged and replied as he turned his attention back to the lunch he was preparing for himself, "The first of August? The one-month countdown until I go back to school?"

"Well, yes, and yes, but it's also the day of the solar eclipse!"

"Oh. Oh, yeah. I knew about that too," Danny stated nonchalantly, remembering the info Tucker had gotten the other day as he started making his sandwich.

As Maddie, then Jazz entered the kitchen as well, Jack kept rambling, "And hopefully with the abnormal darkness it causes, it might very well bring out some ghosts!"

Danny held his forehead and muttered, "Great. More ghosts is exactly what I need."

Maddie put a hand on her husband's shoulder and said, "Now Jack, we don't know for sure if the solar eclipse will have any affect on ghosts, causing more to appear, or anything else."

While Danny started into his sandwich and soda, Jazz quietly went over to Danny and whispered, "You feel worried?"

"About what?" Danny whispered back.

Jack and Maddie were talking with each other, paying no attention to the conversation that had now begun with their two teenage children.

Jazz replied, "You know…what Slade might be up to."

Danny scowled, "Thanks, Jazz. I had almost forgotten that Slade might be planning something."

Jazz's face fell, "Sorry."

Danny sighed between sips of soda, "Whatever Slade might be up to, I'll face it head on, like I always do."

"Just be careful," Jazz stated as she pat him reassuringly on the shoulder, then got up and started to make lunch herself.

A couple minutes later, Danny had finished with his own little lunch. After putting his stuff away, he turned around and left the kitchen. After a quick brush of his teeth, he went back downstairs, where he called to his parents, "Mom, Dad! I'm going for a walk; I'll be back later."

Cutting a piece of steak, Maddie called back, "Alright, sweetie!"

Jack then yelled, "Just don't be out long! The eclipse happens at 3:00!"

Danny replied, "Uh, sure, Dad."

He then left out the front door, unaware of the back door of Fenton Works that was currently being opened.

* * *

Danny stifled a yawn as he continued his slow walk into the downtown region of Amity Park. He didn't really like being here, considering previous experiences in the area, but he had actually been walking without a plan, going wherever his legs took him. In this case, his legs had taken him here. 

Other than the fact that he felt more tired than usual, things had been running normally for Danny for the first time in days: no spooky dreams, no creepy flashes in his eyes, no nothing.

But Danny wasn't comforted by this fact. In fact, this just gave him a feeling of anxiousness and dread in the pit of his stomach.

He thought to himself, _Why would things be running normal for me today when they had been so much on the weird side for a while now? Wish I had someone to talk about this to._

He looked up to the cloud-free blue sky and pushed his thoughts onto another topic, _The solar eclipse. Should probably be cool to watch._ Wanting to pursue an astronaut career meant an interest in space and it phenomenons, so he was bound to find it cool. The last one he had seen years ago had been pretty cool.

Out of nowhere, Danny heard what sounded like a stone hitting the ground.

He looked far ahead and saw what looked like a figure looking at him. It then ducked into an alley.

Suspicious, Danny ran forward to see what was going on. He looked inside the alley, and then a second later, wished that he hadn't.

Lined up together inside the alley were a bunch of Slade's robot henchmen in clothing similar to their creator. At least fifty of them, and all were staring straight at him.

Danny sighed, "Just when things had been so normal for today. I'm going ghost!"

He jumped up into the air and transformed into Danny Phantom as he hung there. Without hesitation, he fired a round of ectoplasmic waves along the ground. Many jumped and dodged the attack, although a couple were hit by it.

Without a lot of room to attack, the henchmen maneuvered out onto the main road.

Danny gave a loud grunt as he fired ghost rays at a few of them. They missed and jumped at him. Danny reacted quickly by catching one by the legs, and then throwing it at the remaining robots, crashing into them and sending them all to the ground.

He had no time to appreciate this, though, as more ran towards him. Danny flew up higher to avoid them, but that didn't help as they jumped onto the sides of buildings, then push themselves off, propelling them higher at Danny.

Danny kept firing ghost rays, a couple hitting, but was then struck by two in the air at the same time, sending him crashing down to the ground and bruising his back. He quickly phased through the ground and then came back up into battle.

He then shouted at them, "You can tell your boss that if he wants me, he'll have to come and get me himself!"

Danny got no response, as he had expected. They continued their attempted assault on the ghost boy, who, despite the fact that his moves weren't as accurate as usual, still held up his own pretty well.

With twenty or so remaining, Danny decided to duplicate into two to finish the fight up quickly.

As they approached, one Danny said intensely, "I'll take the left…"

The second Danny finished in an equal tone, "And I'll take the right."

Both Dannys flew at the henchmen and delivered massive kicks, punches, and close-range ghost rays at them. Eventually there were only a few left, and they noticed that Slade was nowhere around.

Danny chose to form back into one as he said, "Geez, this is his plan of attack? Just ambush me with his stupid robots in an alley?"

He blasted the last few with ghost rays, without noticing one attack him from behind and force him into a bear hug.

Knowing that only Slade had the chemical compound inside him that made him immune to ghosts being able to phase through him, Danny phased through his arms and out of him.

Danny then turned and gave the robot a massive punch in the face, knocking it to the ground as well as the mask off of its face, leaving nothing but some type of blank screen on it.

Curiously, Danny walked towards the fallen henchman. He stopped as something took place on the screen. It didn't take long for someone to appear, and it took even less time for the ghost boy to recognize who it was.

"Slade."

Slade replied in pleasure, "Hello again, Danny. Still unsure as to my latest intentions?"

Danny didn't respond. He just glared at Slade in hate.

Slade went on, "Well, since you've been unable to figure out this little mystery, I'll just have to reveal it to you myself."

Danny grumbled to himself, "About time too."

"I'm sure you know that today is when the solar eclipse occurs, 3:00 this afternoon."

He nodded.

"Well, I'm afraid this phenomenon does more than just darken the sky for a while. This also happens in the Ghost Zone, and it causes a period of irregularity for the ghosts who reside there, and anywhere else for that matter."

Danny was feeling uneasy at being told this as he replied, "What do you mean by that?"

"A ghost's energy relies on ectoplasm, and I've learned from my exhibition in the Ghost Zone that there happens to be a pattern of ectoplasmic powder near the Sun, which was left from the very first ghost thousands of years ago. It's something only ghosts can see, which explains why it's never been discovered.

"That, however, will also be blackened out, resulting in ghosts losing the ectoplasmic energy they need."

"Do you mean I'm gonna die?" Danny exclaimed, fearing the worst.

"Not from the eclipse, young man. Ghosts only lose their energy at a brisk pace until the eclipse has passed, in which their energy comes back to them."

Danny now looked puzzled as he retorted, "That's it? I'm just going to lose energy temporarily?"

"Only the first part of the plan, young man."

The screen then turned away from Slade to a large open arch with a series of controls next to it.

Slade explained, "A dimension twister. With the correctly-entered coordinates, I can be transported to any place on Earth."

Danny's mouth gaped. He guessed fearfully, "You're going to use that to come and attack me while I'm losing energy?"

"A close guess, Daniel, but wrong."

A box was then shown on a table that sat in front of the dimension twister, filled with round devices with red bumps on four sides.

"This last part, I actually have you to thank for. Do you recall the very first time you stole for me?"

Danny growled, "Every bit of it."

"I used the power cell to power these grenades," Slade responded, referring to the round devices in the box, "There wasn't enough to power each grenade, but the last machine I stole could make an exact copy of anything smaller than two feet long. I used it to duplicate the power cell until it powered every grenade."

Now feeling very uneasy at the thought of what was to come, Danny asked him, "And…those grenades will do what?"

"Now that they've been powered with the power cell, they'll be powerful enough to destroy any major city in the world. And they will reach any city, once thrown through the dimension twister as soon as it will allow it, at 3:30 today, the time that the dimension fabric is the least stable."

Danny gasped at hearing this but could think of nothing to say.

Slade went on, every word echoing in Danny's mind, "So unless you can stop me before the solar eclipse begins, your powers will begin to die, cities will be destroyed, and your own demise will be met from me."

Danny finally shook off his stunned look and sneered, "You won't get away with this, you creep."

"A fierce confidence, Danny. Let's see whether or not you can back it up. I look forward to seeing you."

The screen flickered and went blank, leaving Danny just staring with a look of disbelief imprinted on his face as he replayed Slade's words in his mind again and again. His tired state had vanished in light of the horror that awaited the world.

Finally he shook his head and remembered that he had until 3:00 before the solar eclipse began and his powers would start dwindling. He frantically checked his watch and saw that it was 2:32.

He moaned hopelessly, "Great. I've only got less than half an hour to stop him before my powers start shutting down."

Remembering his recently acquired line of defense and sure he was going to need it, Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. He flipped it open and spoke into it even as he took off into the skies towards Fenton Works as fast as he could, knowing full well where Slade was since he saw him heading there the other day, even if he didn't know where his lair actually was.

"Danny calling Robin. Robin, do you read me?"

After a few seconds, Robin's face appeared. He answered, "Danny? What is it?"

"Robin…we've got trouble. Big trouble."

_Oh, boy! I bet you guys weren't expecting something like that, huh? Looks like big trouble on his hands now! The world is in danger from who-knows-how-many deadly grenades, and Danny may soon be able to do nothing about it! But it looks like he's got the Titans coming for back-up! Will it be enough? Let's wait for Chapter 10!_


	10. Racing the Clock

_Howdy, ya'll! Yet another slow update because of…never mind. Hopefully now that Slade's newly discovered plot is unfolding, more reviews will come. If you read this fic, review. I'll update sooner._

_But enough of my mindless babbling. Here's Chapter 10! I own nothing and no one!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Ten: Racing the Clock**

Danny Fenton, a.k.a. Danny Phantom, found himself in a state of extreme urgency and panic as he approached Fenton Works. He then phased underground and kept flying until he was inside the basement of Fenton Works, where the portal was. He had recapped the approaching danger as well as where he believed Slade's lair to be to Robin as fast as he could over his communicator, and he had promised that the Titans would be there ASAP.

As he flew through the Fenton Portal and into the Ghost Zone, Danny knew that his options were scarce. There had been no time to notify his family and friends of the upcoming danger, and his powers were due to start shutting down in less than half an hour. All he had to help him were the Titans. He knew they were great allies that gave him a decent chance at survival as well as victory, but who knew what Slade may have planned if they got there.

"_If they got there."_ That was another problem. Danny was sure Slade's new set-up was in the Ghost Zone, but he had no clue where it actually was.

Knowing he was running short on time, Danny said to himself, "Better just ask random ghosts where Slade's lair might be."

Up ahead, he saw a familiar figure. It was the same one that vandalized a newcomer's lair just a few days ago.

"Box Ghost!" Danny barked.

The goofy ghost turned around and saw the ghost boy. He instantly developed a pathetically dramatic attitude as he yelled, "Beware! I am the Box Ghost! And I…"

He was cut off as Danny had suddenly grabbed him by his shirt collar and held him up.

Looking quite scared, the Box Ghost muttered, "This seems oddly familiar."

"Listen!" Danny commanded, "You, and about everyone else in both worlds are in danger. I need to know, and I have no idea why I'm asking you this: have you seen a creepy guy wearing armor and a mask that shows only one eye?"

The Box Ghost stammered, "I-I-Indeed, I have." He regained his usual goofy manner and called out, "And I went about sabotaging his lair, emptying all the marvelous boxes of their…"

Again, he was cut off as Danny shouted, "I don't care about some stupid boxes! Just tell me where this lair of his is!"

He gulped first, and then pointed a finger in one direction, "You will find it in a large black building at least a mile down. Can you please release me?"

Danny quickly released his grip on the scared goof and zoomed off in that direction, shouting back, "I'll thank you later, provided I survive!"

As he flew towards his destination, Danny said to himself, "I can probably rely on Raven to sense me. They can find me that way."

Danny tried hard to focus as he saw a large black building coming up in front of him. It certainly didn't look abandoned: fresh steel doors, paned windows, etc. Danny recognized Slade's lairs, having spent a week living in one.

Knowing he couldn't phase through objects as Danny Phantom in the Ghost Zone, he temporarily changed back into Danny Fenton in front of the door and walked through it.

Once inside, Danny quickly checked his watch. 2:40.

He looked around and saw that he was in a very large room. Boxes and other types of debris were lined up along the walls, leaving much wide open space inside the room.

Danny gasped as he felt the blue mist escaping his mouth.

He got an intense look in his eyes as he stated, "I thought Slade would have something for me to try and slow me down."

In the blink of an eye, ghosts had appeared, surrounding Danny all throughout the room. A few of which, he had seen throughout the last couple of days, one of which, he saw over a month ago, and one of which, he hadn't seen for months.

They consisted of Johnny 13 and Kitty on his motorcycle, Walker and his many henchmen, Desiree, Spectra, and Bertrand. Danny noticed that they were all wearing gold rings of the same design on their left ring finger.

Danny pointed to all of them, "I sent all of you back to the Ghost Zone."

Spectra smiled and replied, "And we were all ordered to gather here after you did."

Danny scowled, "Slade's the one who ordered you all to attack me at different times. Just so I could defeat you and send you back here, where you would all come together where he told you to and attack me all at once."

Johnny answered back, "Got that right, punk. All for revenge on you."

Looking somewhat unimpressed, Danny said, "Look, I don't know if you guys know, but you all are going to start losing your power: not just me."

"I must contradict you at this moment, Danny," Slade's voice came, echoing throughout the room.

Danny growled, and then asked in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Those rings they have on their finger. I forgot to mention that they make whoever wears them unaffected by the powers of the solar eclipse."

He sighed in frustration, "Whatever. It's not like they can hurt me when I'm in…"

The ghost boy didn't finish as Johnny suddenly kicked out. Danny was shocked to see the kick hit him and knock him down!

Danny sat up, stammering, "How did…?"

Slade answered coldly, "They let them hurt humans as well. Quite amazing what you can find in a few simple ancient scrolls. And if you wanted to phase through the walls, they came from the real world. Only the door is from here. You'll have to fight them to get to me, young man. Good luck."

Danny heard the microphone Slade was obviously speaking into as he snapped, "Leave it to Slade to find ways for me to waste precious time. Going ghost!"

For what he prayed wasn't the last time, Danny transformed into Danny Phantom with an intense scowl imprinted on his face.

As the first of his foes moved in, Walker's henchmen, Danny shot upward. He was about to fire a round of ectoplasmic waves, but was ambushed from behind as Desiree threw her rope at him, tying around him and throwing him straight at the wall, where he slid down.

Danny looked up and saw Spectra throwing her own blasts at him. He quickly projected his dome and was unaffected.

Struggling to get on the offensive, Danny fired ghost rays all over the place. He saw Bertrand and Desiree get hit for sure, but he didn't have time to check to see who else had been hit. He was on a mission.

Danny flew up high to survey the entire room. Everyone else flew up and tried to land a blow to the ghost boy.

Keeping his moves steady, Danny flew around, over, under, and in between his enemies as they tried to strike. He heard them hitting each other a few times and couldn't help but smile at that.

Finally, he found himself flying towards a door at the back of the room, with no one guarding it. Knowing he could phase through the walls in ghost form since they came from the real world, he started to phase through…when a pair of long stretchy arms grabbed his legs and throw him backward.

Danny saw that Bertrand had become a blob and had stretched his arms out to grab him as he kept himself up in the air.

He said to himself, "Got to get through that door somehow. Oh, why aren't they here yet?"

From above, Kitty had jumped off her boyfriend's motorcycle and struck Danny on top of his head with her feet. She drove the half-ghost down to the ground.

She then taunted, "You should really learn to stop talking to yourself."

Danny wanted to use his ghostly wail, but that would probably be ill-advised. Besides, he wasn't sure he could get it off anyway, not being in entirely top form.

Instead, he unleashed an aural blast, blowing Kitty off of him. But in front of him was Johnny, who was riding his motorcycle right at him.

Thinking fast, Danny fired a ghost ray at the motorcycle as he jumped back up, but Johnny jumped off at the last second, leaving his ride to get struck and knocked at the wall.

Floating in the air, Johnny ordered, "Shadow, go!"

Johnny let his bad-luck shadow fly out and at Danny in an attempt to punch him. Danny dodged the attack, but Walker then gave him a hard kick in the ribs, winding him for a few seconds.

Knowing time was fast running out on him, Danny's heart began to race as he frantically flew back towards the door he had tried to get through earlier.

But Walker's henchmen flew down and stood in the doorway. Danny fired a ghost ray, but they quickly brought out their nightsticks and swung, knocking Danny's ray back at him. He dodged quickly to avoid it.

Desiree flew at him from behind in an attempt to grab him, but Danny quickly sensed her coming and turned around in a flash, nailing a hard punch right to her jaw. She stumbled backward and was dazed.

But Danny had no time to appreciate this as Shadow flew back at him. Danny fired a ghost ray at it, but it merely went through its shadowy figure. Danny tried to fly away, but Shadow quickly grabbed him by the legs and trapped him inside of its body.

Danny struggled to get free, but couldn't break away.

He heard laughs coming, directed at him. They were laughing at him.

He felt angry as Walker sneered, "Any last words, ghost kid?"

But just then, a huge colorful ship burst through one of the walls. Inside five sections were the five people Danny had been hoping would find him in the current situation he was in.

The Teen Titans jumped out of their seats and into the room, with Robin lashing out at Walker, "How about _your_ last words instead?"

Danny grinned as he powered up a bright ghost ray. Light being Shadow's weakness, Danny blasted him away, freeing himself and leaving Shadow in small segments, which quickly reformed.

Danny then shouted out to his allies, "Boy, am I glad to see you guys!"

Beast Boy responded, "Well, dude, you did call us."

Slade's voice came back over the microphone, "The Teen Titans. Why am I not surprised?"

Robin growled, "Slade. Probably because we always come to stop you."

Beast Boy then piped up, "Boy, did you pick the wrong time to start destroying cities. I had to miss _Clash of the Planets_ to come here, and…"

The shapeshifter was interrupted as Raven elbowed him with a small whisper, "Stop doing that."

Pretending he hadn't heard Beast Boy and Raven speak, Slade said, "It's quite touching that you would come and help out your new friend, but I'm afraid that you're too late."

The Titans looked shocked while Danny gasped and checked his watch. 2:59. He heard a few ticks, and then it changed to 3:00.

Outside, the normally green sky that glowed throughout the Ghost Zone began to change to blood-red.

And out in the real world, the moon began to cover everybody's view of the Sun. The sky which was as blue as Danny's human eyes and currently without clouds also began to glow blood-red, the same color of the sky that Danny had seen in his recent dreams. Everyone looked on in awe, unaware of the upcoming danger.

And in Slade's lair, Danny suddenly started feeling dizzy as he held his head, which throbbed painfully.

_Uh oh! The time of Danny's power loss is now, and with only the Titans as his allies, can they fight off his enemies and Slade before 3:30 and he starts destroying cities? Well, unfortunately for you, only I know._

_But you'll all know soon enough! Review, and Chapter 11 will be up soon!_


	11. Vigilantes and Violators

_Hello, folks! Everything alright with all of you? I had some time to write this, and I was generally pleased with the amount of reviews I got, so I'm glad at that. This fic and this trilogy is winding down now, as you probably guessed, so get ready for a fantastic finish!_

_Chapter 11 has arrived! And I own nothing!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Eleven: Vigilantes and Violators**

"Danny!" Robin shouted to the ghost boy.

He started to run over, but Danny called out, "Don't worry about me!" He tried to shake off his pain and said, "I'll be fine."

Starfire asked him, "But please, you said you would…"

"I'll be fine!"

Walker then stated, "Do you punks want to talk or do you want to fight?"

Cyborg loaded his cannon and answered with intensity, "I thought you'd never ask."

Robin began to open his mouth, but without warning, Danny called out, "Titans, go!"

The Titans seemed very much taken aback by this, but Robin quickly said, "Hey, you heard him. Let's go!" They all jumped into the battle as Danny's foes moved in to attack.

Robin pulled out his staff as he started striking Walker's henchmen, jumping when they fired their nightsticks at him, also knocking them back at them when he couldn't dodge.

Beast Boy became a lemur as he started flying around Spectra's body. She tried to grab him as well as Bertrand, but he was too fast. Beast Boy kept this up until he flew above her, finally crushing both of them as a hippo.

Starfire fired her star-bolts at Desiree, but she blocked her attacks by moving various equipment in front of them with her blue power. Starfire charged straight at her and Desiree threw the equipment at her, but she quickly dodged the assault on her and gave her a hard kick right in the stomach.

Cyborg stood in front of Walker and Bullet, both who looked ready to attack. He fired rockets out of his body straight at them. They were able to dodge most, but some they were hit partially. Not willing to be outdone, Cyborg yelled, "How 'bout a piece of this, creeps!"

He then fired with his cannon, but this time it was a grenade. It blew apart in the air in front of the two of them, sending them both reeling backward.

As Johnny and Kitty rode towards Raven, she watched them steadily, and then cried, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Their bike glowed black and suddenly started spinning around and circles, sending the ghostly couple into a dizzying ride while screaming. They finally jumped off, but their motorcycle shot straight at the wall and crashed into it.

Danny was fighting fatigue as Shadow flew towards him. He dropped under him and fired a ghost ray, but again, it went right through him.

He then let fly a round of ectoplasmic waves at it. They hit, but they weren't too strong and Shadow recovered in seconds.

Starfire now gave the blob Bertrand a strong punch in the face, and he was knocked backward. Snarling, he became a wolf.

Beast Boy suddenly hurried over and pointed back to Spectra, "You take her, Star. I got this one." Then he became a wolf as well, staring down the face of his opponent before they both charged and claws clashed.

Robin swung around his staff and gave Johnny a powerful kick in his shoulder. He reeled backward as Kitty charged at Robin. Robin discarded his staff as they engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat, Robin unsurprisingly having the upper hand.

Danny was hit in the face as Bullet fired a beam of red energy from a small weapon. He fell to the ground and was slow getting up.

Bullet flew down and was ready to attack again, when Raven appeared through the ground next to Danny. She held up her shield to protect both of them just as Bullet fired. It struck the shield and neither of the two heroes were affected. Raven then blasted Bullet with her own energy, knocking him backward.

Danny said gratefully, "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. You should probably sit this out."

"But I…"

Cyborg had now landed next to them after a hit from Desiree. Hearing the conversation, he got up and said, "Raven's right, man. You're too weak right now to fight. We can handle this."

Danny was never the type to take "No" for an answer, but he knew they were both right. He followed their words as he got back a safe distance from the battle and sat down weakly against the wall near where he had first come in.

He watched in awe at the intensity of the fight in front of him. He could now fully appreciate the Titans' skill since he was watching as a spectator, rather than an opponent or an ally. It was quite amazing.

Danny felt his odds slightly increasing as they kept taking the blows of the bad guys, and striking back with their own. He prayed that they could pull it off; they were pretty much his last hope at stopping Slade and saving everyone.

As the battle progressed for several minutes more, both sides looked unwilling to go down. But Danny thought the Titans were looking to be in better shape.

By now, the Titans were standing all around each other while Danny's foes stood circled around them, ready to strike.

Then Robin chose to try a trick they had used back in Jump City a long time ago. He pulled out his own grenade and lobbed it up into the air. He quickly shouted, "Now, Raven!"

The grenade went off in the air.

_**BANG!**_

It exploded, destroying everything in its path. The ghosts weren't ready for it and were all struck and knocked to the ground. Danny, however, who was farther away, had more time to react as he was able to turn intangible and was left unscathed.

When the smoke cleared, the Titans were seen behind a shield that Raven had produced. She then put it down.

"Good job, guys," Robin praised, "Now let's go get Slade."

Danny managed to get up to his feet. Noticing that the ghosts were all down, he suddenly cried, "Hey!"

He ran over to Johnny and reached for the ring on his finger. He grabbed it and tried to pull it off…only to discover that it wouldn't come off. He pulled harder, but it didn't budge.

Danny sighed, "Great. Looks like if you aren't wearing the rings, then you can't take 'em off."

He walked back over to the Titans as he checked his watch. 3:11. They ran over to the door in the back of the room.

Robin threw one of his disks at the door and it was blown apart. The six of them then hurried through.

Robin then barked, "We're taking you down, Slade."

Beast Boy then stated, "Your buddies couldn't take us down."

Slade was sitting in a chair on the other side of this room as he responded coldly, "I didn't expect them to. They were merely to slow you down. Now I hope to have you out of my way until my attacks on the world are launched."

A pair of doors open on both sides of the long room, and more of Slade's robotic henchmen appeared.

Danny held his head and shook it, "Jeez, how do you find the time to build all of these stupid robots?"

Robin stated, "I don't know, but we're not going to wait around to find out. Titans, go!"

Once again, Danny tried to hit the robots as they launched their assault on the six teens. But again, his moves were slow and didn't have their usual power. As a result, he was struck easily several times before he was again convinced to sit down.

While Danny's energy was weakening, the Titans went back on the attack, their attack pattern similar to when they fought the ghosts.

Instead of joining in, Slade simply sat in his chair and watched the festivities unfold. Besides, he already knew what he was planning to do. Just a few more minutes…

Robin fired his bird-arang at one henchman. He jumped the attack and tried to give him a punch, but Robin blocked the blow with his staff and kicked it hard in the chest.

Starfire and Raven joined hands and began to circle around each other as they launched attacks at the same time, similar to the final battle with the Brotherhood of Evil. The double attack hit and knocked out at least ten robots at once.

Beast Boy became a huge stegosaurus. Cyborg was able to lift him and then throw him. He landed on top of several more robots, crushing them to pieces.

Starfire and Robin now joined hands as Starfire swung him around and threw him at a few more henchmen. He hit a couple, landed on the ground, and threw his disk at a few more.

Danny was now feeling more confident as the Titans continued their relentless assault on Slade's henchmen. Sure, all he could do was watch, but he didn't care as long as they stopped him.

Finally, all of them except Beast Boy fired attacks at once. Robin with his disk, Starfire with her star-bolts, Raven with her dark energy, and Cyborg with his cannon. They hit the remaining standing henchmen and they were all knocked to the ground, clearly out of the fight.

Danny then smiled and checked his watch. 3:20.

Robin then turned to Slade, "You think you can take on all of us now that you don't have those powers?"

Slade retorted, "You think I would be that foolish, Robin?" He then snapped his fingers.

Before anyone knew what was happening, five ghostly figures suddenly flew through the real world walls and right inside the Titans! They appeared to struggle for a second or two, but then they stopped as their eyes glowed red and wore sinister smiles.

Danny gasped as he stood up, "No!" His last line of defense had been overshadowed. He was now alone, with his powers still dwindling.

Slade's one eye bore into Danny's soul as he said in an icy manner, "It's just you and me now, dear boy."

_OH! How I do enjoy being evil like that. Yes, you all are probably going to kill me for that, but that's just the way life is. Danny's back is against the wall here! The Titans are no longer able to fight, and his powers are becoming ever so weaker. Can he find a way to pull it out?_

_You're just gonna have to wait and find out! Chapter 12 is on the way!_


	12. Determination and Heart

_Hi, guys! Well, I was quite pleased with the amount of reviews I got, so you get a rather quick update for a change. I'm hoping to break 100 for this fanfic, but that's probably not going to happen. Right now, I'm in the middle of a debate on how I want this to end. I want it to end one way, but at the same time, I want it to go another way too. We'll see what I decide._

_Okay, I've tortured you long enough…for now. Here's Chapter 12!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Twelve: Determination and Heart**

Words failed to describe the panic and dread Danny felt right now. His allies couldn't help him, he had no time to get help from his family or friends, and retreating was certainly not an option. His back was really against the wall, and his mind was drawing a blank for escaping this hopeless situation.

Slade started to walk towards Danny slowly. Desperately, Danny jumped up and was able to fly, but he had to use a lot of his dwindling power just to stay in the air.

He managed to fire a ghost ray at his foe, but it came slowly and Slade easily dodged it. Danny fired again and was met with similar results.

Slade's rocket shoes then kicked in as he flew up to Danny and attempted to punch him. He only just dodged it by ducking, but Slade kicked him with his back foot and sent him spiraling to the ground with a thud.

Danny struggled back to his feet, grumbling, "Why did I ever have to meet a selfish, maniacal, low-down creep like you?"

Slade flew down towards him and thrust his fist at him. Danny quickly backed away from the blow, then another. He tried to counter with a punch of his own, but Slade calmly blocked it and then kicked him in the gut, knocking him down.

Danny looked up just to see Slade bringing his fist down onto him. He desperately turned over and Slade missed him by an inch, leaving a dent in the floor.

Slade then began taunting Danny, "How does it feel, Danny? To have no one? No allies, no assistance, no help, nearly no powers?"

Danny got back to his feet, still feeling weaker by the minute.

Slade went on as he walked towards him again, "It didn't have to go this way, young man. You could've stayed with me, and I would've protected you from this ghostly ordeal. We could've taken the world in hand together."

Danny spat back, "You're the one who was planning everything."

"I was your master, Danny. It's what I was supposed to do. You willingly followed as you were supposed to until the end, where your foolishness took over."

Slade then gave Danny a sharp slap with his right hand to the face, stunning him for a moment.

Slade went on, "And you knew it wouldn't end there, Daniel. You knew I was still out there, and I was going to find a way to finish you one way or another. And it's proven to be easier than my previous apprentices."

"Don't be so sure of yourself," Danny sneered. It was an empty threat, but it was all he could think to do in this situation. He then fired another ghost ray, but Slade again dodged it easily.

Slade then jumped high into the air and performed a backflip. Danny started to back away, but Slade came down with his feet right into Danny's face. Danny crashed to the ground as Slade backflipped off of him, landing back on the ground perfectly. Blood splashed from Danny's face as he felt old wounds beginning to open up again.

Slowly, Danny rose to his feet, trying desperately to hang on as the clock kept ticking.

He fired a round of ectoplasmic waves along the ground at his opponent, but Slade jumped the slow attack. He landed right in front of Danny and delivered a roundhouse kick right to his left shoulder. Danny stumbled back and tried to throw a punch at him, but he caught his hand with his own and pushed back violently. Danny screamed in pain as Slade then gave him a hard throw. He smashed into the wall and slid down.

Danny panted and his muscles wobbled and ached as he struggled to get back on his feet. Eventually, he was able to, but then he fell back to the ground just seconds after standing.

"No…" Danny could only mutter as he laid face-first on the ground.

He finally felt his energy leaving as he transformed back into Danny Fenton.

Slade then walked over to the fallen hero, saying, "You've always been a worthy foe, Danny. But did you really think you could truly defeat me?"

Danny groaned and didn't respond. He simply didn't have the strength.

Slade then gave him a kick on the ground, sending him tumbling back to the wall again.

As the ghost boy moaned painfully on the ground, Slade hoisted Danny up by his collar until they were face-to-face.

"When this is over, Danny," Slade said coldly, "It will be on your head. You'll be letting the world down because you couldn't stop me. Because you were too weak. Your family, your worthless friends, thousands will be destroyed."

Danny turned his face toward Slade and glared in hate. He then spoke back to Slade in a much crueler, colder, and more blood-dripping tone than either of them had ever spoken before.

"Never."

And as he said this, he felt something deep within him. Something he hadn't felt for a while now. Power. Sheer power, fueled by his animosity and determination. But it wasn't coming from his ghost side. It was from his heart and soul.

Slade was caught completely off-guard as Danny suddenly swung his leg and delivered a mighty kick right at Slade's knee. He crumpled to the ground and let go of Danny.

With renewed strength and determination, Danny roared, "I'M GOING GHOST!"

A loud flash shone from Danny as he suddenly transformed back into Danny Phantom. His eyes glowed completely green and they seemed wanting to melt Slade to goo with the smallest glance.

He then sent out a round of ectoplasmic waves at Slade from close-up. They hit him and knocked him backwards a distance away from the wall.

Slade got into a crouching position, saying to Danny in disbelief, "How…did you transform?"

Danny responded, "You might think using the eclipse was the perfect way to defeat me, right? Well, you've forgotten the factor of my determination, and that I'll never surrender, no matter how big the stakes are, or how hopeless the situation is."

He then fired a ghost ray at Slade, which shined brighter and appeared to have more power than usual. Slade couldn't dodge it fast enough and was struck with the blow, knocking him down.

With blazing speed, Danny then shot straight at Slade and gave him a devastating punch to his face. A loud _ding_ was heard as his mask was hit and he stumbled backward. He gave Danny a punch of his own, but Danny blocked it and kicked Slade hard in the gut. He followed up with a ghost ray, but Slade this time jumped it and gave Danny a kick in the chest. Danny was winded but quickly recovered.

Slade pulled out his staff and swung it at Danny, but he projected his dome and the staff hit it, not him. Danny then fired another ghost ray at him, and it knocked him backward.

Gaining the upper hand, Danny went on, "And that determination is not because of my ghost powers. It's who I am. And you can't take that from me."

Slade said coldly, "Strong words from someone who's going to be launched into their afterlife."

"You've gotten more hits as of late, the way I see it. I might not be good at math, but I can still count."

"Then you might want to start counting the next one hundred twenty seconds."

Danny gasped and checked his watch. It had just turned 3:28. He had two minutes to stop Slade before he started to launch the grenades.

Knowing he had to finish this up quickly, Danny flew straight at Slade, but he jumped up. Danny turned upward and fired a ghost ray, but it missed by inches. Slade then swung his staff again and this time his aim was true, striking Danny in the left arm and knocking him down.

Danny got up in a pant. He was on his second wind due solely to determination and heart, and he wasn't sure how long it was going to last. His injuries during the battle hadn't vanished; he was just able to overcome them now that his powers had been brought back.

Slade now simply stood still as Danny charged at him and brought his fist back. He was about to bring it forward when Slade swung his own fist forward at his stomach. But at the last second, Danny diverted his body down and only just ducked the attack. He then gave Slade a roundhouse kick that knocked him down again.

By now, even Danny was surprised at how well he was doing. But he didn't let it show in his face, which instead had a look of intensity and focus.

Danny again checked his watch. It had just turned 3:29 now.

Danny thought about trying his ghostly wail, but he didn't want to risk it, just in case it didn't finish Slade off, because then he'd really be done for.

Instead, he waited as Slade this time ran toward him. As he did, Danny took notice of a small rock that sat on the ground behind Slade. As he looked at it, the rock suddenly jumped up. All by itself.

Remembering quickly that Slade was running right at him, Danny tried to punch him. But this time, Slade swept Danny off his feet with his leg and he fell down. With the ghost boy on the ground, Slade then delivered a massive blow to his face, drawing more blood.

Slade looked to attack again, but Danny suddenly shot up and head-butted him, dazing him for a moment.

Danny took this moment as he grabbed Slade by his legs and swung him around. He kept swinging Slade around until he was at top speed, and then he let go.

The effect was what he had hoped for.

Slade was thrown headlong into the wall, smashing into it with a heck of a lot of force. He then slid down to the bottom. It was seconds before he started to get up. He still looked ready to fight, but Danny had a sense that he would be fighting on his last limb.

Slade then said softly, "Perhaps I misjudged you, young man. Even I didn't believe you could pull this off without a lot of training from me."

Danny replied in an icy tone, "Didn't need your help, Slade."

"But you still won't be able to stop me, young man."

"Keep dreaming, creep. Neither time, nor the eclipse, nor any force in the world can stop my will."

"How about this?"

With that, Slade reached onto his belt, and pushed a round silver button. Danny turned around as he heard what sounded like something moving. He saw that a wall was turning around, revealing something else on that wall.

What he saw on that wall nearly made his heart stop.

All bound and gagged to the wall, hung his loved ones. Maddie, Jack, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker were all there, struggling to get free. A pair of wires stretched from the wall to the ends of a rod that Slade picked up off a desk and held in his hand.

Danny gasped in horror, "No…"

_Now, the way I ended Chapter 11 may not have been too terrible, but this is quite a different story, don't you all agree? Ho ho, it's fun being an evil author. LOL_

_Danny has given it his all in this critical battle, but now Slade's using other tactics! Can Danny pull off a victory from the fire? We'll find out in Chapter 13!_


	13. Danny's Last Hope

_Hello, folks! Sorry this took so long; I was stalling a bit to build tension. And the reviews came a bit slowly as well. Just so you all know, after this chapter is finished, there will be only one more chapter to go. And if you all thought that cliffhanger was bad and the one before it was bad, trust me. The worst is still to come._

_Let's hit it! Chapter 13 has arrived! And it's a pretty long one._

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Thirteen: Danny's Last Hope**

At this point, Danny simply could not believe the fix he was in. Not one bit of it. He wished it was all just a nightmare. In fact, he wished the last two and a half months of his life was a nightmare.

Realizing Slade's plot on destroying the major cities of the world while his powers diminished due to the solar eclipse, he called his allies, the Teen Titans, and came to stop him. But Slade sent a bunch of Danny's foes to slow him down, and it did right up until the eclipse began, leaving Danny weakening.

Still, the Titans defeated them, and then smashed Slade's robot henchmen, leaving Danny feeling confident. But Slade had then sent five ghosts to overshadow them, leaving Danny instead all alone, demanding the ghosts not to battle.

In a seemingly helpless situation after being knocked around a bunch, Danny somehow found strength from deep within, powering him above and beyond the call of duty despite the eclipse. Dealing more blows to Slade than he had received, Danny had finally been starting to think he could pull out a victory once and for all.

And now, this.

"You let them go!" Danny barked fiercely, "This is between me and you!"

Slade responded quite calmly, "Relax, young man. I will release them, provided you make a certain choice."

Danny raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Come again?"

"As you might notice, it is now 3:30."

Danny checked his watch again and saw that Slade was right. The time had just turned 3:30 PM. He gasped and looked back up at him.

Slade then reached into a box filled with the grenades which sat on top of a dresser. He took one out and held in his right hand, with the rod with the wires he now held in his left.

He went on, "That is why I'm going to give you two choices. If you attempt to attack me again, your loved ones will be destroyed instantly…" He held up the rod and finished, "With a push of the button. But I will not launch the grenades."

Danny didn't respond. He was simply too shocked to do so.

"But if you choose to surrender, I will launch the grenades. Your loved ones, however, will be released and no harm will come to them."

Muffled screams came from those strapped to the wall. Danny couldn't tell what they were trying to say, but he guessed they were telling him not to surrender. Danny, however, was leaning towards the opposite. He didn't want any harm to come to them. He valued their lives above his own.

Scowling, he glared back at Slade in hate and spoke with a voice that dripped blood.

"You're sick."

Slade answered casually, "Think of me what you will, Danny. You're the one whose loved ones' lives are in my hands."

Danny narrowed his eyes and spat back, "How do I know you're not just gonna destroy them too when I surrender?"

At the same time, a thought raced through Danny's mind. It was that rock he saw a few minutes ago. He pondered over what he had seen happen then.

Slade replied, "Would you like to test that, Daniel?"

_I'm almost sure that rock move when I looked at it,_ Danny thought, _Am I the one who moved it…with my mind?_

Danny kept his icy glare going as he stated, "I wish I had never met filthy scum like you."

_What if I can do that to something besides that rock? What if I can move anything I want with my mind?_

Slade looked a bit annoyed at being told this as he responded, "Believe me, Danny. You're not the first person I've met who wishes that about me. But the fact is, we have met, shared quite the experience over these last several weeks, and it's all led up to this. Either destroying countless citizens around the world, or the ones you love. It's your choice."

_But what could I move that can help me right now? Unless…maybe I can move…_

Danny sneered, "It's always been my choice, hasn't it?"

"Indeed. And it's always been your weakness as well. Putting others' lives before your own. That's why either way, you lose."

_It's crazy, and it means doom for me and many others if it doesn't work. But it's my only chance…_

"So…what's it gonna be, dear boy?"

Danny kept his eyes on Slade for a second, and then turned to his family and friends, then to the overshadowed Titans that stood in the corner, then the dimension twister, then the wire that stretched from Slade's rod to the wall.

He stared at the wire in intense concentration. His eyes glowed bright green as he finally spoke coldly.

"Neither."

And as he said this, everyone, including the ghost boy was surprised, as the wire connecting the rod to the wall suddenly snapped in half, leaving Slade holding a rod that connected to nothing!

Slade couldn't contain the look of shock on his face. He turned to Danny, who said with a smile, "I hoped I'd do that."

The surprised look on Slade's face was replaced by a look of fury and rage as he raised his arm which held the grenade and threw it to the dimension twister!

Thinking fast as he knew he didn't have time to stop the grenade with his mind, Danny bravely flew after the grenade and caught it just before it reached the twister. Just after he caught it, he heard a strange beeping coming from it.

Danny looked puzzled as he asked Slade, "Is that a good thing?"

Slade growled, "Does it sound like a good thing?"

Danny stared at Slade, looking worried.

"It's been activated, you fool," Slade explained, "That means either you launch that grenade through the twister in the next thirty seconds, or everything and everyone in this building will be destroyed. It would've exploded instantly from the force of hitting the ground, so at least now you have time."

Danny gasped. He turned to the controls on the dimension twister and saw that coordinates had been entered for New York City. Thinking fast, he said, "But if I change the coordinates to somewhere else, then no one could get hurt."

He quickly thought of where no one could get hurt. An idea struck as he entered the coordinates 90 degrees east and 75 degrees south, a piece of land in the uninhabited Antarctica.

The grenade was beginning to glow as Danny then threw it into the twister. A monitor then switched to Antarctica, showing a swirling blue and white portal appearing. The grenade then dropped out, and a second later, it went off.

A giant mushroom cloud burst from the ground and sent waves of radiation out everywhere for miles. It kept spreading way out in a radius that surely would destroy cities like Tokyo, Las Vegas, or Rome. Danny was relieved, however, to see no people caught in the explosion, only land.

Danny turned to Slade and sneered, "What now, Slade?"

But by this time, Slade was running to a machine next to the wall with his family and friends, saying, "Destroying them can still be done manually, without the use of the wires."

Danny wasn't going to give him the chance. He shot towards Slade like a bullet and grabbed hold of him from behind. He then swung Slade over his head and smashed him onto the ground, falling down to his knees in the process.

Danny let go and got into a crouching position as Slade made to stand up.

The ghost boy then snapped, "This ends now." Danny was sure of it now. Slade had pulled out all the stops, but Danny had taken each of them and kept fighting back harder than ever.

Slade replied as he stood, "Minions, get him!"

The overshadowed Titans finally jumped into the fray. Danny jumped backward as Robin threw a disk at him. He then came back with a ghost ray that knocked him off his feet.

Starfire fired a barrage of star-bolts at him, but Danny quickly dodged them and threw a ball of energy at her. It struck hard and knocked her in a flip through the air.

Cyborg fired his cannon while Beast Boy charged as a wolf, but Danny projected his dome and was unaffected. Beast Boy hit the dome and bounced back, while Cyborg's blast was knocked right back at him.

The Titans charged back, while Slade jumped above them all and tried to kick Danny. He dodged it just in time, and then fired a ghost ray at him. Just as he had, however, Raven blasted him with her dark energy, knocking him down.

Danny looked up just in time to see Robin land a hit with his heel to his back. It was a hard hit and Danny cried out in pain.

Danny looked up again and saw Slade was back to the wall that contained his loved ones. Scowling, Danny made an aural blast and blew the Titans off of him, and then flew to Slade and tried to punch him from behind.

But Slade turned around like lightning and grabbed hold of Danny's uninjured hand, and again pushed back violently. Danny screamed as he felt something break, he wasn't sure what.

Slade then swung his other arm and struck Danny in the back, knocking him to the ground in pain.

Danny panted on the ground. He was losing his composure fast, while Slade seemed to have regained his poise.

He looked down on the fallen hero and taunted, "Looks like you couldn't handle it all, Danny. As admirable as your determination, heart, and will is, it's just not enough to save yourself, and everyone else."

Danny's eyes blazed as he started back up, "You're wrong.

"You've been wrong about everything you've said. About what everyone I care about thinks of me, about where I belong in the world, and about how high or low my limitations are."

And once again, Danny felt his dreaded fear towards Slade leaving him. Tactical or not, he was still just a villain. Cold-blooded or not, he was still just a villain. Ruthless or not, still a villain. Danny had not feared villains before, and he knew there was no reason to change it, despite Slade's nature. Although the fear had come back before, he just knew it wasn't returning this time.

Slade didn't respond to Danny's words. He continued to stare at the young man as he spoke so fiercely to him.

"And that's why no matter what you do to me, you're never going to defeat me."

And before Slade could respond, Danny tensed his muscles, and then, gathering up every ounce of energy he had left, he opened his mouth and let loose a mighty scream, which became his mighty ghostly wail.

The Titans were blown backward as the energy hit them, driving them back to the wall and sending the ghosts that overshadowed them out of their bodies. Slade was sent flying through the air and crashed headlong into the wall. The dimension twister was knocked over but still appeared to be in tact.

The set of controls next to the wall short-circuited and died. The ropes that bound everyone together and their mouths shut broke, dropping them all onto the ground.

The boxes of grenades were thrown at the wall. Luckily, they didn't flip over when they hit, causing no grenades to spell out, at least not until they hit the ground.

Danny felt himself transform back into Fenton form as he finally stopped the wail, where he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

Slade was lying on the ground against the wall, while the Titans all sat up, holding their heads.

Cyborg groaned, "Oooh. Why do I feel like I just spent a whole day with a boring moron?"

Raven responded darkly, "Well, Beast Boy's right here."

While Beast Boy scowled, Robin called out, "Danny!"

They, along with the Fentons, Sam, and Tucker, ran over to Danny, who was on his knees.

"Danny?" Jack said, obviously surprised as he had discovered who his son was.

Danny said tiredly, "Dad…Mom…everyone…"

Sam hugged him and said, "Oh, I was so scared for you."

Danny smiled, but then his smile faded as he heard something. Beeping.

His exhaustion vanished as he turned to the detonators. All of them were beeping.

He quickly shouted, "Guys! All of those detonators are going to blow!"

Robin then yelled, "That means we're all going to be destroyed unless we get out of here, and right now!"

With no time and not enough people to get in the T-ship, Beast Boy became a pterodactyl and gave Jack, Maddie, and Jazz a lift on his back. Cyborg held onto Starfire's legs, and Robin grabbed Cyborg's.

Danny managed to become Danny Phantom and was ready to carry Sam and Tucker, when he saw something.

It was Slade, who had gotten up and had pushed the twister back into position and was now punching in new coordinates.

Knowing he could get away if he got through the twister, he said roughly, "You guys go. Now."

"What?" Maddie retorted.

"I'm not letting Slade get away."

He flew over to Slade and hit him with a ghost ray, just knocking him away from the twister just as he had entered the new coordinates.

Tucker shouted, "Dude, no!"

"Don't worry about me," Danny assured them, "I'll be okay. Just go! Now! Raven, take Sam and Tucker!"

Sam said with tears in her eyes, "Danny, ple…"

"GO!"

They didn't argue any further. Cyborg blasted the wall open and they all shot out as fast as they could, with Danny's family and friends looking back at him with tears in their eyes on their soulful faces.

Danny gave them one last look that they knew said, _I love you all._

The detonators were beginning to glow as Danny stated, "I can't let you leave, even if that means me not leaving as well."

Slade snarled, "You're being very foolish, young man."

Danny responded calmly as he kicked Slade away from the twister, "I'll have no regrets when this is all over."

Slade ran to the twister, but Danny stepped in the way and tried to punch him. Slade knocked him aside and ran for the portal.

Danny desperately launched himself at Slade's legs and grabbed them, pulling him down with all his strength. Slade struggled to get free, but to no avail.

Danny then threw Slade off to the side, away from the twister. He hit the wall and fell to the ground while the seconds ticked down.

He looked up at the ghost boy, who was simply staring at him.

Slade said calmly, "A noble sacrifice, my boy. Very noble indeed."

"For those I love," Danny replied, "Anything. That'll be your last thought. I wish they could hear it too."

* * *

Jack, Maddie, and Jazz jumped off Beast Boy and through the Fenton Portal, back into the basement of Fenton Works. Beast Boy then went through as a pigeon and changed back into human.

Starfire then flew through the portal herself, with Cyborg and Robin trailing behind her. It had obviously been hard carrying the both of them.

Raven finally brought up the rear through the portal. The dark energy around herself opened up, and Sam and Tucker dropped to the ground.

"Phew," Starfire said, "We are undamaged."

_**KABOOM!**_

In a flash, Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker turned back to the portal and peered inside into the Ghost Zone. The Titans peered in from behind them. They saw energy being blown everywhere as everything began to be destroyed. It was far in the zone, but it was going to reach them in seconds!

"Quick!" Robin shouted, "Shut the portal!"

"On it!" Maddie barked as she ran over to the Fenton Genetic Lock.

"No!" Jazz cried, "Danny's in there!"

Maddie yelled, "Jazz, there's no time!"

Everyone else got away from the portal.

Sam, however, stayed behind, where she then cried, "No! Please!"

Maddie ignored her as she pressed her thumb down on the lock. The portal began to close as the explosion reached them. Sam stayed there, looking into the Ghost Zone with a terrified look on her face.

As the portal closed completely, she shrieked at the top of her lungs, "DAAAANNNNYYYY!"

_BIG CLIFFHANGER! Told you the worst was still to come. LOL Yes, that chapter was long, but I thought I could get everything in one. Looks really bad now! Everyone's safe, but what happened to Danny? Is he dead? Is he alive? You'll all have to wait and see!_

_Oh, and please don't kill me for leaving it there. Otherwise, you won't see the concluding Chapter 14, coming soon!_


	14. To Rescue a Hero

_Greetings, all! Everything fine with you? Probably better than it's been with me, I'm sure. Some crazy storm on Tuesday evening knocked out the power until late last night, so that's one explanation why this took a while to come up._

_Before we launch into the pulse-pounding conclusion, I'm curious. Out of the three stories in this trilogy, what scores would you give them out of ten? Tell me in your review. For me, I can't really think of a score. But I think my favorite was "A World he Never Knew", with "Plotting for a Transformation" my least favorite. But it's really close between all three, so…yeah._

_Here it is! The ending to "Never Easy" and "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy is here at last! Enjoy!_

**Never Easy**

**Chapter Fourteen: To Rescue a Hero**

The fact that the Ghost Zone had suffered extraordinary damage for the most part was unimportant as the Fentons, the Titans, and Tucker and Sam searched throughout for Danny, whom they all prayed was still alive.

It had been almost an hour since the tremendous explosion. After it had ended, they had journeyed back through the Fenton Portal and into the realm. After noticing there was nothing around where Slade's lair was, they decided that Danny could be anywhere, so they headed off in different directions. Starfire and Beast Boy both flew one way, while Raven flew another way. Everyone else fit in the Specter Speeder.

Despite the knowledge that hundreds of ghosts could have been obliterated by the explosion, Danny was their only concern. He had been the closest to it, so it was highly unlikely that he had survived. Still, there was always hope.

"Sam, you okay?" Tucker asked the worried Goth girl. She had been staring out the window, not blinking once in the last ten minutes.

Sam snapped out of her thoughts and took notice of Tucker's words, "Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure."

"You know, if you go too long without blinking, you might never be able to open your eyes again."

Sam gave him a glare that said, "Shut up," and he immediately did so.

Robin asked Cyborg, "You got anything?"

Cyborg checked his scanners and shook his head, "You're asking the wrong robot. I can detect ectoplasm, but I can't detect a certain ectoplasmic signature. This place is full of the stuff in the air."

Tucker then stated, "We're gonna have to hope that Raven can sense him."

Jack spoke for the first time, "We probably should've brought the Booo-merang. That would've found him." He and Maddie were more concerned that Danny may not survive than that he was half-ghost for now.

Sam sighed, with a tear sliding down her cheek.

Jazz sat next to her and put her hand on her shoulder, "You're worried, huh?"

Normally, Sam would've given Jazz a biting sarcastic remark at this moment, but she was just too worried about Danny.

"Very."

"We all are."

"I still just…can't believe he stayed behind like that. That he would risk everything to save us and stop Slade."

Jazz was the one to sigh this time.

Tucker joined in and said, "It's what he does."

Maddie, her eyes glistening from tears, then spoke for the first time, "He's a good kid, a good hero, and a good person. I hope we haven't lost him."

Jack said to her, "Now don't you worry, Maddie. We'll find our boy somewhere in this infinite realm."

Robin then pulled out his communicator and spoke into it, "Have you guys found anything?"

Starfire answered, "I have not."

Raven replied gloomily, "Nothing here."

Sam sniffed, "What if…What if he is really…you know?" She couldn't bring herself to say the word "dead".

Jazz answered, "Sam, no. Don't think that. Please. Don't think it's gonna end like this."

Tucker then said, "Danny's survived so many near-death situations. He can't just be gone here."

Sam wiped her tears and said, "God, I hope you're right."

Cyborg said, "Well, we could be here a while. Who knows how big this dimension is? He could be anywhere by now."

Sam stared far head of them, at nothing in particular. They were now turning a different way, back in the direction of the Fenton Portal.

Then her eyes opened wide as she thought she saw something. It looked like a silver dot. Once they got closer to it, it grew longer, and there was a form of black extending from it and the silver looked spiky.

She gasped as she recognized who it was.

"THERE HE IS!"

Everyone jumped in surprise at Sam's sudden scream.

Tucker jeered, "Sam, are you trying to give us all a heart attack?"

"Tucker, it's Danny! He's up ahead!"

Sam pointed to where she saw him, and everyone else looked out there. There was no mistaking the spiky hair and the D that came into view.

Robin shouted, "That's him!"

"Danny!" Jack, Maddie, and Jazz cried in unison.

A glimmer of hope had come alive now that they had found Danny, but there was no telling if he was alive.

Sam simply said, still looked worried, "Danny…"

Cyborg quickly pulled out his communicator and spoke, "Guys, come in! We've found Danny! Repeat; we've found Danny!"

Starfire squealed, "Glorious! Beast Boy and I are on our way as we speak!"

Raven said, "I'll be right there."

Maddie directed the Specter Speeder carefully to the ghost boy. Upon further look, they saw Danny was simply floating adrift, in ghost form and unconscious.

Tucker yelled, "Get him in here!"

Robin threw the door open, then jumped out. He then fired a grappling hook onto the bottom of the door and swung under the vehicle. Then he swung back and grabbed Danny, and then swung up and back inside the speeder. Everyone else looked quite impressed at this.

He quickly set Danny down on the floor. He then moved his fingers near his Adam's apple and felt for a pulse.

"He's got a pulse," he said, drawing hopeful gasps, "But it's really faint."

Their faces again became frantic with worry as Maddie said sharply, "We have to get him home, right now."

They didn't need telling twice as Maddie slammed her foot on the gas pedal and they zoomed off towards the Fenton Portal.

Robin spoke into his communicator again, "Guys, we're heading back through the Fenton Portal. Meet us there ASAP."

* * *

When Raven, then Starfire and Beast Boy, finally arrived back into the basement of Fenton Works, everyone else was there, with Danny now back in human form.

Beast Boy asked, "Dude, what's going on?"

Robin responded sharply, "Danny's alive, but he's got a really faint pulse." He then turned to Raven and said, "Raven, try to keep him alive."

Raven nodded and flew over to Danny's side, where she tried to heal him using her energy. Small black waves were sent throughout Danny's body in an attempt to keep him alive.

While she tried her hardest, the remaining nine watched the scene unfolding, their hearts pounding and their faces full of concern and dread. Jack was holding Maddie. Robin was holding Starfire. Beast Boy and Cyborg had intense and focused faces. Jazz was crying silently into Tucker's shoulder. And Sam sat on her knees closest to Danny except for Raven.

Robin asked his fellow Titan, "How is it looking?"

She replied as she continued, "I'm not sure. I'm doing all I can, but his heart's still beating slowly."

It went on for a few more minutes, with Raven still doing whatever she could without saying a word, and the rest of them watching while Danny's life hung in the balance.

Sam took this time to think, _Please, Danny. Please don't die. You can't die after everything that happened. I would be completely lost without you. I know you must be happy you saved us, but please…don't leave me, Danny. If you do, I'll never get the chance to tell you how I really feel. That I…_

Sam's thoughts were interrupted as they heard something. It sounded like…moaning.

"Wait!" Raven cried, "I've got something. He's coming back."

Everyone gasped in shock once again. The moaning was coming from Danny! And his right eye was starting to twitch!

"Danny?" Sam gasped.

Very slowly, Danny moaned again and his eyes began to open. Raven backed slowly away from him. Everyone murmured as Danny at last opened his eyes and looked around to them.

He mumbled, "G-guys?"

Before anyone could react, Sam suddenly launched herself into Danny, and kissed him full on the lips. Danny was undoubtedly surprised but did nothing to stop it, while everyone else just stared in awe.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she pulled away, leaving both of them scrambling for words.

Danny stammered, "Uh, I, uh…"

Sam blushed as she said, "Uh, that didn't really mean anything. I'm just relieved you're okay, is all."

Danny blushed as well, "Right. Of course."

Sam then backed away as everyone else gathered around him, some hugging, some expressing words of relief, some thanking him for saving them, all happy that he was alive and okay.

When it was done after at least five minutes, Robin asked Danny as he slowly sat up, "How did you survive?"

Danny thought for a moment before he said, "Well, it's kind of a blur. But just when I heard the grenades go off, I reacted without thinking and put up my dome. It held up for a few seconds, but as the explosion built, it broke apart. At least it gave him a bit of protection or I would've been obliterated."

Jazz then asked him, "What happened to Slade?"

"Well, he didn't have a shield, did he? I lost sight of him a second after I put my dome up. He probably got destroyed."

"Probably," Robin said, although he knew from experience that Slade may or may not be gone. He was leaning towards the former, but anything was possible.

Danny slowly got to his feet and stared back into the portal. He then said, "So…that's it? Slade's gone? It's over?"

Jazz put her hands on his shoulders and replied, "It's over, Danny. How do you feel?"

Danny gave a big sigh and said, "Relieved. Extraordinarily relieved that he won't be following me around anymore." His head was clear, his worries had been eased, and his fears had been lifted. Right now, he just felt drained. Tired. But still happy all the same.

His family and friends gathered around him, with Maddie hugging him, "We're so proud of you, Danny."

Jack hugged him as well, "That's my boy!"

Danny accepted both hugs, and then stepped back.

"You mean…you guys aren't mad that I've been lying to you? That I'm the ghost boy?"

Maddie responded with a warm smile, "Of course not. You never had a reason not to lie."

Jack smiled as well and stated, "I would've felt the same way with all of our yammering about destroying and dissecting ghosts."

Maddie then said, "And it doesn't matter what you are. We love you, Danny."

Danny smiled. This was very similar to the first time before he erased their memories with the Reality Gauntlet.

"I love you guys too. And I really appreciate this."

Tucker then said, "We're the ones who should be doing the appreciating, man. You risked your life for us."

"You could've died," Sam said sadly.

"Believe me," Danny answered, "I know. But my only concern was getting you guys out of there, and stopping Slade. And if I ended up dying while saving you, it would've been worth it."

He then turned to the Titans and said, "And you guys. I couldn't have done this without you. You helped me, and then you got them out safely."

Beast Boy smiled, "It's what we do."

Starfire beamed, "We thank you, friend Danny!"

"Thank _you,_" Danny said, "All of you. For everything."

The words of thanks echoed around the room as Danny went back to hugging his family and friends, leaving the Titans simply standing there smiling. Danny had given so much of himself and showed so much heart, and he was certainly the bravest and most heroic they had ever seen, surpassing maybe themselves.

Danny knew that his life was never easy. It was something he had learned to live with. Ghosts, monsters, villains, hunters, etc. But he didn't care. He had friends standing by him, no matter what happened. They helped each other through the most terrible hardships.

Even though Danny was glad he would never see Slade again, he learned something very valuable from his experience with him as an enemy. That was that no matter how good or bad things got, as long the ones he loved were safe, regardless of how he ended up, he was always the winner.

_**The End**_

_Whew! That's it! It's all over! Phew, I never DREAMED this all would go on so long. My first thoughts for a DP/TT crossover came in February, and now we're in July, and after three stories, it's all over!_

_Now I don't feel so weary anymore. But writing all three of these was so much fun; probably the most fun I've ever had with writing any other fanfics so far, just because of all the emotion, dark atmosphere, colossal threats, dreadful cliffhangers, occasional D/S, lots and lots of intense action, I could go on. But you don't want to hear me jabbering on how much I liked my own stories. I want to hear you! LOL_

_But seriously, thank you all for sticking it out for this long. I got some good ideas from a couple suggestions of yours, and that helped me a lot. Expect my next bit of work maybe later this month, but it might be August. We'll see. Oh, and don't forget my request at the top of the page, please!_

_Until next time, this is JK rulez, finally signing off!_


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